NEW DELHI: Indian Spices have not been banned by countries like Singapore and Hong Kong, the Rajya Sabha was informed Tuesday.
In a written reply, Anupriya Patel, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, said specific batches of spices exported from India were recalled by Food Safety Authorities in Hong Kong and Singapore due to the presence of ethylene oxide (EtO) above permissible limits.
As part of its import surveillance, the Singapore Food Agency placed the consignments of spices from the associated brands under the hold-and-test regime for a period of one month, she said.
On the steps the government has taken to ensure the safety and quality of Indian packaged foods for export and sale in the domestic market, she said the Spices Board under the Ministry of Commerce has taken various steps, including mandatory pre-shipment testing of spices being exported to these destinations, issuance of comprehensive guidelines to be followed by exporters to prevent possible EtO contamination at all stages, namely; procurement of raw materials, processing, packing, storage, transportation, etc., to meet the varying EtO limits of the importing country.
Further, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is fully committed to ensure the availability of safe food products to consumers across the country, the minister said.
She said FSSAI, through states and union territories and its regional offices, conducts regular surveillance, monitoring, inspection, and random sampling of various food products, including dairy products, spices, and fortified rice, to check compliance with the quality and safety parameters and other requirements as laid down under the Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act, 2006, and regulations made thereunder.
In cases of non-compliance with the statutory requirements as above, penal action is initiated against the defaulting FBOs as per the provisions laid down under the FSS Act.
Further, FSSAI has conducted pan-India surveillance for milk and milk products in 2011, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, and 2023.
FSSAI has also asked the states to deploy the Food Safety on Wheels for screening and rapid testing of milk and milk products. FSSAI has conducted pan-India surveillance on spices in 2022.