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G.K. Nair

Kochi , Jan. 1

THE Spices Board, as part of its efforts to evolve a strategy to produce aflatoxin-free chilli and to arrest the presence of red dye Sudan-1 in export consignments, plans to hold a meeting of senior officials of horticulture/agriculture departments in the chilli-growing States here on Friday.

The meeting is being organised as a prelude to the proposed visit of a delegation from the European Union to assess the capabilities and facilities available in producing and processing centres of chilli to avoid aflatoxin contamination and detect and arrest the presence of Sudan-1in chilli powder, Mr S. Kannan, Director (Marketing) of the Board, told Business Line.

Besides, senior Government officials, representatives from Agricultural Products Marketing Committees (APMC), cold storage operators, selected growers from Farmers' Associations would be attending the meeting.

The State Governments had to be involved in this matter, as they are the implementing agencies, he said.

He said the EU delegation would be visiting the country from February 16 to 27. The delegation coming as a EU mission wants to check the controlling measures the Government and the industry have taken to ensure that the export consignments meant for EU countries meet their quality requirements.

They also want to assess the control system in place for Sudan Red 1 in chillies and aflatoxin contamination in spices and to get satisfied themselves with the measures we have taken, Mr Kannan said.

He said the European Union had mandated that each consignment of hot chilli and chilli products imported into EU must accompany an analytical report demonstrating that the chilli products do not contain Sudan-1. Besides, the European Spice Trade Association had subsequently asked the Spices Board to indicate to them as to what steps were being taken to ensure a higher degree of reliability and safety to spice products exported from India.

The Board has already made it mandatory for the exporters intending to export chilli powder or any other spice product containing chilli, excluding chilli oil and oleoresin, to any destination, to provide all details about the consignment, at least 48 hours before shipment, and assist the Board or any agency designated by it, to draw samples from the export consignment, he said. Authorities in the US and Europe were strict about the presence of aflatoxin in the chillies. The tolerance limit for chillies fixed by the European Union is 10 ppb (parts per billion), while it is 15 ppb in the US, he said.

The decision was taken following the detection of prohibited carcinogenic dye Sudan-1 in some consignments of chilli power exported from the country few months back. The share of EU market in the total export of Indian chillies is around 10 per cent.

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