KOCHI: The food safety department may soon issue orders for destroying adulterated pepper worth around Rs 34 crore, after it detected presence of mineral oil in the samples collected from two warehouses in the district.
The department had sealed 5,300 tonnes of pepper stored in six warehouses registered with the National Commodity & Derivative Exchange (NCDEX), following complaint of adulteration by an agency, which purchased the substance.
Presence of mineral oil was found in 88 out of the 101 samples picked up from warehouses of the state warehousing corporation in Paravoor and a private agency at Edathala near Aluva. As per the lab test, conducted in a laboratory approved by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), 850 tonnes out of the total 1,000 tonnes were contaminated.
"As per the Food Safety and Standards Act, the pepper is unfit for consumption since it was adulterated," said state food safety commissioner Biju Prabhakar.
However, pepper traders claimed that the practice of mixing mineral oil to pepper is on for quite some time and it does not have any health issues. They also expressed fears that the issue will have serious repercussions in the pepper trade.
Meanwhile, sources said the food safety department is firm on its stand though the complainant has now expressed willingness to withdraw the complaint. The department is the authority to take a final call on the issue and the spices board has no role to play in it, said a source with spices board.
The food safety department is planning to complete the process of collecting samples from rest of the warehouses by August-end. It is presently in the process of picking up samples from warehouses at Cherthala and Kodungallur, sources said.
Kochi: The safety food department may soon issue orders for destroying pepper worth of around Rs34 crore after finding presence of mineral oil in the pepper stored in two warehouses in Ernakulam district.
The presence of mineral oil was found in 88 out of the 101 samples picked up from the warehouses of the State Warehousing Corporation in Paravoor and a private agency at Edathala near Aluva. As per the lab test, 850 tonnes out of the total 1000 tonnes were contaminated with mineral oil. The tests were conducted in a laboratory approved by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
The samples were picked up from the warehouses in May this year by the food safety officials in the presence of the representatives of Spices Board and National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX).
"In the lab tests, presence of mineral oil was found in 88 samples. As per the Food Safety and Standards Act the pepper, which was adulterated with mineral oil, can't be allowed to use for the purpose of human consumption," said Biju Prabhakar, state food safety commissioner.
Meanwhile, pepper traders said that mineral oil has been using for quite some time and it does not have any health issues. They expressed fears that the issue will have serious repercussions in the pepper trade.
According to sources, though the complainant has expressed willingness to withdraw the complaint with pepper price registering an upward trend in the recent period. But the food safety department is firm on its stand that the pepper can't be used for human consumption purpose.
The food safety department is the authority to take final call on the issue and Spices Board has no role to play in it, said a source with Spices Board.
The food safety department had sealed 5300 tonnes of pepper stored in six warehouses registered with NCDEX following complaints by a company, which purchased pepper, about adulteration of the pepper by using mineral oil.
The food safety department is presently in the process of picking up samples from the warehouses at Cherthala and Kodungallur. Sources with the food safety department said that they are planning to complete process of picking samples from the remaining warehouses by August-end.
The department had sealed 5,300 tonnes of pepper stored in six warehouses registered with the National Commodity & Derivative Exchange (NCDEX), following complaint of adulteration by an agency, which purchased the substance.
Presence of mineral oil was found in 88 out of the 101 samples picked up from warehouses of the state warehousing corporation in Paravoor and a private agency at Edathala near Aluva. As per the lab test, conducted in a laboratory approved by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), 850 tonnes out of the total 1,000 tonnes were contaminated.
"As per the Food Safety and Standards Act, the pepper is unfit for consumption since it was adulterated," said state food safety commissioner Biju Prabhakar.
However, pepper traders claimed that the practice of mixing mineral oil to pepper is on for quite some time and it does not have any health issues. They also expressed fears that the issue will have serious repercussions in the pepper trade.
Meanwhile, sources said the food safety department is firm on its stand though the complainant has now expressed willingness to withdraw the complaint. The department is the authority to take a final call on the issue and the spices board has no role to play in it, said a source with spices board.
The food safety department is planning to complete the process of collecting samples from rest of the warehouses by August-end. It is presently in the process of picking up samples from warehouses at Cherthala and Kodungallur, sources said.
Kochi: The safety food department may soon issue orders for destroying pepper worth of around Rs34 crore after finding presence of mineral oil in the pepper stored in two warehouses in Ernakulam district.
The presence of mineral oil was found in 88 out of the 101 samples picked up from the warehouses of the State Warehousing Corporation in Paravoor and a private agency at Edathala near Aluva. As per the lab test, 850 tonnes out of the total 1000 tonnes were contaminated with mineral oil. The tests were conducted in a laboratory approved by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
The samples were picked up from the warehouses in May this year by the food safety officials in the presence of the representatives of Spices Board and National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX).
"In the lab tests, presence of mineral oil was found in 88 samples. As per the Food Safety and Standards Act the pepper, which was adulterated with mineral oil, can't be allowed to use for the purpose of human consumption," said Biju Prabhakar, state food safety commissioner.
Meanwhile, pepper traders said that mineral oil has been using for quite some time and it does not have any health issues. They expressed fears that the issue will have serious repercussions in the pepper trade.
According to sources, though the complainant has expressed willingness to withdraw the complaint with pepper price registering an upward trend in the recent period. But the food safety department is firm on its stand that the pepper can't be used for human consumption purpose.
The food safety department is the authority to take final call on the issue and Spices Board has no role to play in it, said a source with Spices Board.
The food safety department had sealed 5300 tonnes of pepper stored in six warehouses registered with NCDEX following complaints by a company, which purchased pepper, about adulteration of the pepper by using mineral oil.
The food safety department is presently in the process of picking up samples from the warehouses at Cherthala and Kodungallur. Sources with the food safety department said that they are planning to complete process of picking samples from the remaining warehouses by August-end.
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