The great masala mess
In a bustling weekly market in Noida, Kundan Singh, a local spice vendor, sells loosely packed masalas on the street. His stall, set up with open containers of both powdered and whole spices, draws a steady stream of customers. He wraps their purchases in old newspapers. When asked, Singh has no clue about licensing regulations.
“I don’t know about that. I bring these from big shops in Kondli market and sell them here,” he says as he nonchalantly swats a bug inching close to the spice jars.
Singh is one of the many such vendors, whose products highlight serious concerns about spice contamination. Indians love spicy food, but that chilli in your chutney could be hazardous to health, considering Indian spice market is in the grip of an adulteration pandemic; farmers, producers, storage operators, vendors and even reputed manufacturers do not pass the test.
In April 2024, after Hong Kong suspended the sale of certain MDH and Everest spice blends, which had high pesticide content, several other countries launched investigations into these Indian products. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) conducted inspections and the sampling and testing of mixed spice blends in the market.
Nearly 12 per cent of the samples failed to meet quality and safety standards. In July this year, the FSSAI cancelled the manufacturing licenses of 111 spice producers across the country. They were instructed to stop production immediately. This is in spite of India being the world’s largest exporter, producer and consumer of spices.
India exports more than 200 spices and value-added products worth USD 4 billion to some 180 countries, according to the Spices Board of India. The domestic market is worth a staggering USD 10 billion, making Indians the world’s largest consumers of spices. Made in India spice brands are widely sold in Europe, Asia and North America.
Data acquired by Reuters through RTI reveals that out of 4,054 spice samples tested between May and early July, 474 failed to meet the required quality and safety standards. Instead of taking remedial measures, the FSSAI swiftly raised the maximum residue limit (MRL) of pesticides in herbs and spices from 0.01 to 0.1 milligrams per kilogram: a clear indication of either helplessness to counter corporate power, or callousness.
Though the decision was revised later, the ten-fold increase has sparked concern among scientists, environmentalists and public health experts.
“Pesticide in food leads to serious health problems, including cancer, reproductive problems, and neurological damage,” says Dileep Mavlankar, former director of the Indian Institute of Public Health, Gandhinagar; relaxing MRL would disproportionately affect vulnerable populations such as children and pregnant women who are sensitive to toxic chemicals.
India’s response to global food safety concerns is often characterised by what Sarika Agarwal, Managing Director of Food Safety Works, a Bengaluru-based food production company, and an expert in food safety, describes as a “knee-jerk reaction”.
Instead of addressing the root causes of food contamination, the government reacts swiftly to international backlash without implementing long-term solutions.
“We just say, ‘Oh, okay, this has happened. Let me do this and just put the fire out’,” she laments, pointing out that such a reaction diverts public attention away from systemic issues like inadequate regulations, poor enforcement of food safety laws and chemical misuse. Temporary fixes fail to resolve the root causes, leaving the food supply chain vulnerable to recurring incidents of rejection and safety violations.
India’s Murky Spice Route
The recent spice contamination issue has brought to light significant gaps in the country’s agricultural and food safety practices. Agarwal says, “Everything that we grow starts at the farm. If we are not following good agricultural practices, such as using clean irrigation water or applying chemicals within the maximum residue limit, the produce will not meet acceptable standards.”
She further elaborates on the challenges faced post-harvest: “Poor handling and storage can lead to increased microbial growth and the presence of pathogens.” For instance, she explains that to prevent chillies from breaking during storage, water is often sprinkled on them, which makes them susceptible to microorganisms.
Agarwal highlights that these issues extend into the processing phase, where contaminated spices are ground and mixed, further compromising their quality.
The use of ethylene oxide, a chemical commonly used for sterilisation, has raised serious concerns in global food safety. Despite being removable with proper ventilation processes, its presence in Indian spice exports has led to product rejections by countries such as Singapore and the EU.
This issue is not new; in 2020, Indian sesame seeds were similarly rejected due to high pesticide residue levels, signalling a broader pattern of food safety oversights in India’s export practices. As Agarwal points out, “It’s not the first time products have been rejected.”
In most cases, the consumer is none the wiser. Delhi-based homemaker Neena Chawla mostly uses packaged masalas from trusted brands such as MDH. The recent controversy involving the brand came as a shock. But she is not majorly concerned. “We have been using these spices for decades. I trust their quality,” says the loyal customer.
Unlike her, Gurugram-based homemaker Reena Rai has stopped buying the brands that were recently in the news for flouting safety regulations. Her awareness, however, stems from her hospitality industry background. “The FSSAI should take strict action on such contamination cases,” she advises.
Then there is Shazia Khan, who runs a cloud kitchen in Delhi, who believes that home-ground spices are the best. “Manufacturers must ensure strict quality control measures and adhere to food safety regulations,” she says.
Regulatory Loopholes
The concept of food safety is fairly recent in India, with the country’s food safety regulatory system being set up only in 2006. The regulations are overseen by the FSSAI, which was established under the Food Safety and Standards Act, passed that same year. The Act defines Food Safety as an “assurance that food is acceptable for human consumption according to its intended use”.
The FSSAI’s job is to oversee the manufacturing, storage and distribution of food and beverage products, establishing science-based food safety and quality standards, and ensuring these regulations are followed. Prior to the Act, various aspects of food safety in India were governed by eight different Acts, which led to overlapping of authority besides having incoherent rules.
Despite the existence of comprehensive food safety laws, their implementation and enforcement are a problem. A 2023 study on pesticide residues in Indian spices revealed that many of the products failed to meet safety norms, and were unsuitable for sale in both domestic and international markets.
Pradip Chakraborty, a former Director at FSSAI, says, “The lack of consistent enforcement means that food safety standards are not uniformly applied across all food businesses, leading to potential gaps in consumer protection.”
The importance of clear and accurate packaging information has never been so relevant in the spice trade. Rishi N Mathur, an advocate for food laws, emphasises that the labelling on mixed spice packets should reflect the final product’s net quantity rather than detailing each ingredient separately.
He explains, “For a mixed masala packet, the quantity should be stated as per the final product that will be consumed.” He points out that food safety standards, managed by the FSSAI, require specific labelling details, including ingredient lists in descending order and nutritional information.
In India, food safety regulations require packaged food products to obtain FSSAI licenses, whether from state or central authorities. However, for loose products sold in local markets, such as spices in open stalls, vendors like Kundan are expected to register with local authorities. Despite these requirements, the sheer number of food businesses makes monitoring and enforcement an uphill task.
Chakraborty says, “Eighty per cent of the food is sold by petty food business operators, which significantly strains the regulatory infrastructure. Regulating such a big sector is challenging; we do not have that much infrastructure.” Large companies typically comply and undergo regular checks, but the vast majority of smaller vendors escape the radar.
For example, many street vendors source their spices from large wholesale markets, where they buy in bulk without always ensuring their provenance. These spices may not undergo testing for pesticide residues or chemical contamination levels. Storage is another significant issue. Loose spices sold in open-air stalls are often kept in unhygienic conditions, exposed to dust, pollution, and moisture.
Vendors typically wrap the spices in newspapers or place them in plastic bags, which do not provide adequate protection against environmental factors. The processing methods of the vendors are inadequate since they lack access to proper facilities to grind, blend or sterilise spices.
This absence of proper hygiene and quality control increases the risk of contamination by salmonella bacteria or due to the presence of harmful chemicals like ethylene oxide in the products.
Chakraborty explains efforts to improve food safety include training programmes for street food vendors and initiatives in specific states are ongoing, but their sheer scale needs to be huge.
Agarwal says, “Laws change so quickly. One day, there’s a regulation on milk, and two days later, that notice is withdrawn.” This constant fluctuation in rules creates confusion and weakens the regulatory framework. She emphasises clarity and firm decision-making in the face of industry pressure is a must.
Improving food safety in India requires a concerted effort across government agencies to raise awareness about adulteration, and educating both consumers and vendors on the importance of sticking to safety standards.
Ashim Sanyal, Chief Operating Officer of Consumer VOICE, a consumer rights organisation, says, “India’s regulatory perspective is faltering in terms of implementation and enforcement.”
He believes the FSSAI should enforce stricter oversight to ensure that consumer health is not compromised, since without independent checks, there is no guarantee that companies will adhere to the highest safety standards. While the FSSAI sets national standards, the responsibility for enforcement falls on state governments. Some of them simply do not have the required infrastructure and resources.
The Food Safety Struggle
Though the unsafe spice controversy grabbed headlines only after an international row, India has constantly struggled with food safety - especially over street food.
Irfan Ahmed, a 28-year-old IT professional from Delhi, had a severe bout of food poisoning after eating at a local food stall in Old Delhi. On his way home, he began vomiting and was later diagnosed with diarrhoea.
“Since that day, I’ve steered clear of street food stalls,” he says. “We still have an attitude of chalta hai, ho jayega or chal jayega,” - complacency that undermines rigorous food safety practices. The competence of people handling food, such as restaurant cooks and helpers, and delivery boys, is questionable.
“They don’t understand food safety, and neither do organisations put in the effort to train these people,” Agarwal emphasises.
Early this year, Goa banned vendors from selling ‘Gobi Manchurian’, the vegetarian version of the Chindian Chicken Manchurian for their rampant use of synthetic colours, sauces of dubious quality, and for adding reetha powder, a detergent, to make it crunchy.
Only a few food manufacturers in India, particularly multinational corporations with a committed top management, take consumer safety seriously and build a culture around it. The disparity between food safety measures for export food items and the domestic products is stark. The first undergoes rigorous checks to ensure stringent safety standards are met while there are no such checks for the second.
Although periodic reports are required by law, there is little oversight; consumers often rely solely on an FSSAI license or registration number on the label as marks of safety. This lax official approach towards domestic food safety allows substandard products to circulate in the market unless they happen to be randomly sampled.
In contrast, exporters cannot afford to sit pretty, knowing that failing to meet the standards abroad means immediate rejection of products. Regulatory data from the US showed that in 2021, 14.5 per cent of MDH spices were infected with bacteria.
Is Your Food Safe?
India’s transition from a food-deficit to a self-sufficient food-producing country over the past 30 years is a testament to its significant agricultural advancements.
As detailed in the Nutrition and Food Security report by the United Nations, the share of agriculture and allied sectors in the Gross Value Added (GVA) of the Indian economy reached 20.2 per cent in 2020-21 and 18.8 per cent in 2021-22, reflecting the sector’s robust contribution to national economic output.
According to a 2023 Springer journal paper, ‘Food System in India: Challenges, Performance and Promise’, over the last five decades, India has experienced an impressive growth trajectory from a food scarce country to a food sufficient one, and then to a food surplus one.
Despite this progress, there are big issues with food safety. Consumer knowledge is limited and food safety standards vary from place to place. Sanyal says, “Consumers should be more informed about their rights and standards that food products must meet. Educational campaigns and such resources can help them make safe choices while holding manufacturers accountable.” Buyers are convinced of the safety of any packaged food product if it has an FSSAI logo.
This logo is meant to assure consumers that the product has been tested. However, this system works if the consumer trusts regulatory bodies and their logos. But how can a consumer assess food safety beyond the packaging? Sanyal admits while they may have general concerns about food safety, the expertise to independently evaluate the safety standards of a purchase is obviously lacking in the buyer.
In the case of unpackaged goods, consumers rely on the reputation and practices of the seller to figure if the food they buy is safe to eat or drink. Unfortunately, this system has flaws.
For example, terms like ‘organic’ or ‘natural’ are sometimes misused; consumers are misled into believing they are purchasing better quality stuff. In 2019, the FSSAI found that the labels on many so-called ‘organic’ products were fake.
One example is the common scourge of milk adulteration; water, detergents and chemicals are routinely added to increase quantity and shelf life. The National Survey on Milk Adulteration in 2018 reported that nearly 68 per cent of milk samples were non-compliant with standards.
When festive seasons approach, cases of adulterated mawa proliferate, thereby forcing the FSSAI to crack down on manufacturers of traditional mithai. Adulterants like starch, vegetable fats, blotting paper and chalk powder, are often mixed in the mawa to cut costs and mimic authenticity.
Keeping the Consumer Safe
All this is not to say that governments do not take food safety seriously. The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) was established under the amended Central Consumer Protection Bill of 2019. It has a dedicated commissioner and a divisional structure.
Sanyal says, “The CCPA was created to provide a robust framework for consumer protection.” It regularly cracks down on misleading advertisements and defective products. In 2022, the body imposed a Rs 10 lakh fine on Sensodyne on grounds of putting out misleading advertisements of its products.
Consumers can approach the CCPA through various channels, including physical visits to their office at Krishi Bhavan, to voice their grievances. The authority operates a national helpline (1915) and a WhatsApp number (8800-1915). You can complain through email or use the Gamma Portal.
Unlike food safety commissions, CCPA has more teeth since it has search and seizure powers. But the Act does not define which products are deemed “dangerous, hazardous or unsafe”.
For manufacturing, selling, storing and distribution or import of adulterated products, it can fine the culprits up to Rs 5 lakh with jail for up to seven years and Rs 10 lakh or more with a minimum imprisonment of seven years, extendable to life imprisonment if the adulteration has caused a consumer death. Says Sanyal, “The Jago Grahak Jago campaign educates consumers on their rights and what to look out for while purchasing goods.” He acknowledges that reaching 1.4 billion Indians citizens, many of them illiterate, is a challenge.
Hence, achieving complete consumer literacy is a formidable task. A new carcinogenic detection process has been employed after panic over toxic spice exports. Efforts are made through state campaigns, workshops and voluntary consumer organisations to enhance awareness.
Unlike Western food stalls, carts and kiosks, Indian street food stalls and mom and pop restaurants are mostly situated in crowded, filthy markets and small-town streets, which are unsanitary and sources of disease.
The first time the West made money off India was in 1498, when a pepper-obsessed Vasco da Gama landed in Kerala: the Malabar coast where the Arabs controlled the spice trade.
Spice was more precious than money then: in Rome and medieval Europe, pepper and cinnamon were used to pay the rent or buy a slave. The current spice market does not have the same exalted reputation. Exported spice products have been found adulterated with carcinogenic chemicals such as chloroethenol, Ochratoxin A and the toxic Chlorphyrifos. Chemicals in spices are cooking up a storm in India, but not in a teacup.
What Kind of Reforms are Needed?
Sarika Agarwal of Food Safety Works stresses the need for increased testing frequency and greater transparency, with manufacturers needing to be informed about the procedures and results. Rishi N Mathur, an advocate who works on food laws, highlights logistical issues, explaining that “by the time the report comes or the food analyst starts testing the product, the product shelf life already expires,” making many tests legally invalid.
Mathur highlights the need for specialised courts to handle food safety cases. “Such cases should go to judicial courts where a law-educated person can look into the different aspects of the law.”
He explains that administrative officers, who are often burdened with other duties, may lack the time and focus needed for such cases. “There needs to be dedicated judicial courts for food safety cases,” he says.
Public Health Risks
Pesticides are widely used to protect crops, but they pose serious health risks. Short-term effects include skin irritation, nausea and dizziness. Dileep Mavlankar, former director of the Indian Institute of Public Health, notes, “Chemical contamination often causes chronic problems,” including reproductive issues, respiratory problems, and cancer.
He also highlights India’s lack of food poisoning disease tracking. An ICMR study found that long-term pesticide exposure can cause cognitive and developmental problems in children. Dr Abhishek Sharma, medical officer, Provincial Medical and Health Services, Uttar Pradesh, warns that chronic pesticide exposure disrupts hormones and causes reproductive failure.
Here are a few ways to ensure authenticity:
Certification Labels: Look for official organic certification from recognised bodies. In India, for instance, the India Organic logo or the Jaivik Bharat certification ensures that the produce meets strict organic farming standards. Products certified under these labels are regularly inspected for compliance
Check the Source: Purchasing from trusted organic farms, farmers’ markets, or community-supported agriculture programmes can provide greater transparency. Many small farms are committed to sustainable and organic practices
Traceability: Some certified organic brands provide traceability through QR codes or batch numbers on their packaging. By scanning these codes, you can verify the origin of the produce, the farming methods used, and the certification details. Organic farming is, however, not pesticide-free; it may involve natural pesticides and herbicides. Organic certification limits the types and quantities of pesticides used, leading to reduced overall pesticide exposure
How is Spice Adulterated
● Artificial colours are added to enhance the appearance
● Chalk powder, starch or flour added to increase weight
● Synthetic chemicals added to mimic the natural flavour
● Foreign seeds or leaves are mixed to bulk up the quantity
Spot the Culprit
Chilli Powder: The purity of chilli powder can be checked by mixing it with water. Pure chilli powder will float for a while and then slowly start to dissolve. Adulterated chilli powder will start descending immediately, leaving red streaks of colour
Asafoetida: Place it over the stove. Pure hing should immediately catch fire and burn with a bright flame. Hing mixed with resin will not catch fire as quickly
Cumin: Rub the seeds on the palm of your hand. If the seeds leave a black residue, then they are adulterated
Black Pepper: Good quality black pepper will sink when placed in water, but adulterated black pepper will float on top
Turmeric Powder: Pure turmeric powder will settle down slowly when dissolving in water. It it has artificial colouring, it will mix easily, leaving a dark yellow colour
Spice Lies
● Black pepper powder: Papaya seed, starch, sawdust
● Turmeric powder: Lead chromate, metanil yellow, chalk powder, yellow shop stone powder, starch
● Chilli powder: Brick powder, salt powder, artificial dyes, sand, saw dust, dried tomato skin
● Asafoetida: Soap stone, starch, foreign resin
● Coriander powder: Animal dung powder
● Oregano: Similar types of plant leaves or herbs
● Curry powder: Starch powder, sawdust
● Cinnamon: Cassia substitution
● Cumin: Grass seeds coloured with charcoal, immature fennel
● Saffron: Dried tendrils of maize cob, sandalwood dust, tartrazine, coconut threads
● Cardamom: Artificial colorant i.e., apple green and malachite green
Food Fundas
In India, food safety is governed by a rigorous legal framework designed to ensure that food products meet safety and quality standards.
Under the FSSAI, food manufacturers are required to conduct testing on their products twice a year to check for contaminants and safety parameters. Rishi N Mathur, an advocate who works on food laws, explains, “Every manufacturer has to test their products and upload the reports to ensure that they meet the safety standards.”
This requirement helps ensure that food products are safe for consumer consumption. The act also stipulates that manufacturing units undergo annual audits by recognised agencies to maintain compliance.
“Companies must get their manufacturing units audited at least once a year by an FSSAI-recognised agency,” he says, adding, “The problem is that there is no identical standard as far as food products are concerned for domestic and export markets.”
He elaborates that companies producing goods for both Indian and international markets often face difficulties meeting varying standards. For instance, a product manufactured for the Indian market might not meet the stricter standards required in other countries, such as the US or Dubai.
“For example in India, the minimum fat required in full cream milk is about 6 per cent, while in the US, the standard is just 3.25 per cent,” he says, explaining that such differences in standards mean that manufacturers must adjust their products to comply with specific regulations for each market, which complicates maintaining uniform quality.
“It’s not possible to make identical products with the same standards across different regions,” he points out. From 2020 onwards, FSSAI made it mandatory to include the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) values for major nutrients. This helps consumers make informed choices.