FSSAI mulls quality check of foods like dairy, spices, fortified rice

Delhi: After starting a probe into alleged violation of norms in branded spices, food regulator FSSAI plans to launch surveillance on other food items like fortified rice, dairy products and spices sold in the domestic market.

According to sources, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is planning surveillance on food items like fruit and vegetables, salmonella in fish products; spice and culinary herbs; fortified rice; and milk and milk products.

FSSAI is already taking samples of spices in powder form of all brands, including MDH and Everest, from across the country in view of quality concerns flagged by Singapore and Hong Kong.

"In view of the current development, FSSAI is taking samples of spices of all brands, including MDH and Everest, from the market to check whether they meet the FSSAI norms," a source had said on April 22.

FSSAI does not regulate the quality of exported spices, sources said.

Early last month, Hong Kong's Center for Food Safety (CFS) asked consumers not to buy and traders not to sell MDH's Madras Curry Powder (spice blend for Madras curry), Everest Fish Curry Masala, MDH Sambhar Masala Mixed Masala Powder, and MDH Curry Powder Mixed Masala Powder.

The CFS had said that samples of several kinds of pre-packaged spice-mix products of two Indian brands were found to contain a pesticide ethylene oxide.

Singapore Food Agency also directed a recall of such spices. After Hong Kong's directive, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) also ordered a recall of imported 'Everest Fish Curry Masala' from India.

Last week, FSSAI said it was in the process of collecting pan-India samples of Nestle's Cerelac baby cereals, amid a global report claiming that the company was adding higher sugar content to the product.

According to sources, FSSAI carries out various pan-India surveillance on various food products to assess the compliance status of implemented regulations.

The number of samples analysed during the past few years has grown substantially from 1,07,829 in 2020-21 to more than 4,51,000 in 2023-24, registering an increase of more than 3 times.