The Hindu Business Line : Guar gum: Separate food, industry grades, says EU

Developments
The EU has relaxed the inspection process for exporters and manufacturers with good track record.
Buyers are coming forward to pay a premium of $10-15 a tonne to those with such records.

M.R. Subramani

Chennai, Dec. 26 The European Union has asked Indian guar gum manufacturers to separate production and processing of food and industrial grade guar gum.

According to Mr Jeewan Gandhi, President of Indian Guar Gum Manufacturers Association, a delegation of EU which had carried out inspection in Vimta Labs in Hyderabad, which certifies guar gum meant for exports, Indian Glycols and a few manufacturing units in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, in the first week of October had sent its recommendations to the Shellac and Forest Products Export Promotion Council (Shefexil).

“Shefexil has received the EU’s recommendations and we have forwarded them to exporters and manufacturers of guar gum,” said Mr Gandhi. “The problem has been solved to a great extent after the EU team’s visit and now they want us to bifurcate our manufacturing process,” he said.

Despite the progress made in terms of solving the controversy, the source of contamination is yet to be traced.

Brought to standstill

Indian guar gum exports came to a standstill in August last after a shipment was found having excess level of dioxin. Though only one part of some five consignments sent to Europe was found with higher dioxin levels, the EU authorities totally stopped imports of guar gum from India.

Later, EU buyers began to accept guar gum shipments but only after they were certified by accredited labs that they did not contain excess levels of chemical residue. Vimta Labs is only one of its kind in the country that can provide such a certification.

Guar gum is derived from guarseed (cluster beans), a legume crop that grows well in semi-arid regions of the Indian subcontinent. India is the leading exporter of guar gum making up nearly 80-85 per cent of the global production.

Guar gum is used as a thickening agent and additives in foods products such as instant soups, sauces, processed meat products, baked goods, milk and cheese products, yoghurt and ice-creams. Companies such as Coca-Cola, , Danone, Nestle and Unilever were affected by this controversy as they were forced to recall some of their products such as Fanta, Maggie etc.

Guar gum is used in industrial applications such as paper and textile sectors, ore flotation, explosives manufacture and fracturing of oil and gas formations.

The controversial consignment was sent to the Switzerland-based food processing firm Unipektin by the Delhi-based India Glycols. Unipektin, which also had to withdraw its products from the market, said the consignment was also found with higher levels of pentachlorophenol (PCP). The issue with dioxin is that it can cause a series of health problems such as cancer and nervous system disorders. It can be present in soil, air and water and is generated due to incineration, combustion and geological processes. Once, dioxin gets into the human system, excreting it will be difficult. PCP, on the other hand, can cause liver problems and damage human immune system.

Positive development

Another positive development for the guar gum industry with regard to EU is the authorities’ decision there to relax the rigorous inspection process. “EU has relaxed the inspection process for exporters and manufacturers with good track record,” said Mr Gandhi. “In fact, buyers are coming forward to pay a premium of $10-15 a tonne to those with such records,” he said.

Unipektin confirmed the development in its Web site saying: “In consultation with the responsible authorities we have, however, decided to dispense with the rigorous and complete analysis of end products in the future.” It also said only samples from India Glycols were found contaminated with dioxin and PCP.

“The situation is such that there is no substitute for guar gum at current prices. And minimum side-effect is caused by using it in food,” said Mr Gandhi.

Carboxymethyl cellulose or CMC is seen as a substitute for guar gum but its prices are too high, according to him.

He said small, medium and large manufacturers of guar gum would have no problem in meeting the new recommendations of the EU. “More importantly, we all will have to conform to the food standards of the importing countries,” he said, adding that even Indian food laws had become stringent.

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