There is understandable heat over the recent bans by Hong Kong and Singapore on a slew of spices and condiments exported from India.
The Hong Kong food regulator, on a random inspection, discovered high levels of a cancer-causing pesticide in several mixes of well-known brands MDH and Everest. It told distributors to recall those products and stop further imports.
Subsequently, the Singapore Food Agency directed a local distributor to recall Everest’s fish curry masala. Following these embarrassing bans, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has rushed to close the barn door after the horse has bolted. It commissioned quality checks on MDH and Everest spice mixes to determine whether they have carcinogen traces above permissible levels.
Unfortunately, the damage has been done. Checks to enforce quality and safety must be done before and not after products are distributed. After the tragic death of more than a hundred children in Gambia, Uzbekistan and Cameroon from consuming contaminated cough syrup imported from India, one would have expected more stringent quality control. In September 2022, there was fury in Gambia after 70 kids under five died from injuries caused to their kidneys from cough syrup exported by Maiden Pharma. The World Health Organization said the medicine contained unacceptable amounts of ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol, poisonous in certain quantities. The tragedy was repeated in Uzbekistan between December 2022 and January 2023, when 68 kids lost their lives after ingesting cough syrup exported by a Noida-based pharmaceutical company.
On the spices ban, one can now expect some buck-passing. The FSSAI, which is in charge of domestic food and beverage quality standards, is saying it cannot monitor export consignments. But before things slip back to ‘normal’, one should consider some important takeaways. First, despite red flags on quality standards, our regulators seem to turn a Nelson’s eye once the heat dies down. Quite recently, in 2023, the US Food and Drug Administration recalled Everest’s sambhar masala consignments when samples were detected with salmonella. Second, when the country is pushing to increase exports to new markets, allowing a dangerous quality lapse is a huge credibility dent. Finally, if banned substances are being found in exported products, one dreads to think what is being dumped in the domestic market. Undeniably, there is a crying need to ramp up our quality control systems.