New Delhi: Spices play an important role in making Indian cooking delicious. But, recent news of contamination of the cancer-causing chemical ethylene oxide in the spice blends of MDH and Everest has raised concerns in the national and international market.

Keeping this in mind, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) recently collected samples from across India and released the report.

FSSAI recently announced that it did not find ethylene oxide (ETO), a food contaminant flagged by foreign countries, in MDH and Everest product samples.

According to an ANI report, FSSAI made this announcement after testing samples of the spices sold by both the companies.

FSSAI is reported to have collected 34 samples of Everest and MDH spices for testing, of which 9 were collected from Everest’s facilities in Maharashtra and Gujarat, and 25 from MDH’s facilities in Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan.

According to the same ANI report, the tests also included several parameters including moisture content, insect and rodent contamination, heavy metals, aflatoxins and pesticide residues.

The samples were also tested for ethylene oxide in NABL-accredited laboratories. FSSAI has received around 28 laboratory reports so far and the chemical was found absent in them. However, the body is awaiting the results of 6 more samples.

If reports are to be believed, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) said it had already issued an early warning for ETO in various spices in India before January 2023.

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