E-Paper
New Zealand joins countries probing Indian spice mixes over contamination
Hong Kong last month suspended sales of three spice blends of MDH and one of Everest.
The food safety regulator of New Zealand said that it is investigating possible contamination in spice products of Indian brands MDH and Everest. This comes after the United States and Australia also said that they are looking into contamination in the spice mixes after Hong Kong last month suspended sales of three spice blends of MDH and one of Everest.
Read more: Ilya Sutskever is leaving OpenAI: 10 points on the man behind Sam Altman’s ouster
Authorities in Hong Kong said the spice mixes contained high levels of a cancer-causing pesticide, ethylene oxide while Singapore also ordered a recall of the Everest spice mix.
New Zealand Food Safety said as per news agency Reuters, “Ethylene oxide is a chemical known to cause cancer in humans, and its use for food sterilisation has been phased out in New Zealand and other countries. As MDH and Everest spices are also available in New Zealand, we are looking into this issue.”
Read more: Paytm's Vijay Shekhar Sharma praises ‘killer next version of Google Search’
MDH and Everest are also being inspected by Indian regulator FSSAI as the companies sent samples for testing amid global scrutiny.
