The Hindu Business Line : For safe food

FOOD SAFETY AND quality standards have been crucial in international food trade; but across the world, and especially in developed economies, the rules are becoming stricter by the day. Recent episodes of food contamination have raised the level of awareness about food safety and also concern over what is on offer. Today, a wider variety of foods is available in the world marketplace than at any time in the past. This inevitably creates demand for food standards that ensure fair trade practice across all countries and regions. With technology assisting quick detection of undesirable substances in food, food suppliers have to be so much more cautious to ensure that their products meet the safety standards. Indian exporters of food products have to fall in line with the global trend. Indian food products, spices in particular, have come in for negative publicity in the world market following detection of unacceptable levels of pesticide residue, aflatoxin (a carcinogenic mould) and, more recently, Sudan-1 red dye in chillies. There is now a desperate attempt to put in place systems and procedures to ensure strict compliance with new standards.

It is necessary to first recognise the nature and cause of contamination, the impact on consumer health and measures to eliminate unsafe raw material and additives from getting into the food chain. Efforts to detect and eliminate unsafe elements must begin from the farm itself. Supply of quality inputs, sound agronomic practices, adoption of appropriate pre- and post-harvest technology including scientific storage and transportation — areas in which there can be no compromises — must be ensured. However, in India, food safety and hygiene have never been a priority for producers, processors and policymakers. Food quality standards remain on paper because of the lax administration of food laws. Yet the issue of food safety in spices meant for export demands a change in the mindset of the players and a transformation in the trading system itself. Ideally, spice intermediaries and exporters should have access to capital, technology and market information. Corporates and large traders with long-term genuine interest in the commodity have to take the initiative to establish backward linkages with primary producers. There is scope for the emergence of a category of players, consolidators, who can ensure scale and integration of the chain.

Spice exports have not risen over the last three years. From Rs 1,834 crore in fiscal 2000-01, export earnings declined to Rs 1,625 crore the following year, and recovered to Rs 1,790 crore in 2002-03. Because of high prices, Indian chillies, turmeric and fenugreek are uncompetitive in the world market. Ahead of the visit of a European Union delegation next month to study the quality control measures adopted for chillies, the Spices Board wants to get together the horticulture/agriculture departments of States growing chillies to explore ways to eliminate the aflatoxin problem. But mere tinkering with the systems and procedures or a sermon to growers and processors will mean little. Fire-fighting must give way to formulation of a long-term view of quality-related issues including investment in rural infrastructure and farmers' education.

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