Kochi: The
Spices Board on Saturday denied the allegation that spices exported
from the country to the US were contaminated by salmonella bacteria.
In
a long rejoinder to The New York Times report on August 27 which
contained the allegation, K.C. Babu, Director (marketing) with the
Spices Board, pointed out that the report was also inconsistent with
facts and figures. “The report claims that 326 MT of spices was
imported from India in 2012 whereas the actual import was 3,26,000 MT,”
he said.
He said stringent
quality controls were in place in India regarding export of spices and
it was found that 98.5 percent of the consignments sent to US was free
of salmonella and this was testified by the Food and Drugs
Administration of the US. The NYT report had said that 7 percent of
spices exported from India carried salmonella.
“On an
average, from India 14,500 shipments take place to the US every year and
the total number of alerts in terms of salmonella is below two percent
on an average per year for over 200 spices and spices products in whole,
ground, powdered, blended and mixed forms,” the rejoinder said, while
questioning the method of the alleged “detailed survey” conducted by the
reporter of the NYT for the story.
Babu
also said the recent decision of the Food Safety Authority in Kerala to
destroy 900 tonnes of black paper contaminated by oil was a testimony
to the care taken by authorities here for the health of the consumers.
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