Spices Board launches campaign to check aflatoxin in nutmeg, mace

The Spices Board has embarked on a campaign to ensure the quality of nutmeg and mace produced in the country.

This is in the context of concern expressed by importing countries over the presence of aflatoxin in these commodities coming from India. The European Union, a major market for Indian nutmeg and mace, had issued a rapid alert recently, on the situation, according to Spices Board officials.

Aflatoxins are a group of secondary metabolites of fungi and are rated as potent carcinogens. Inadequate and unhygienic drying leads to the growth of these fungi on the spices.

The Spices Board has launched a nationwide field publicity campaign to reach the farmers, traders and exporters in major growing areas and make them aware of the issue. The campaign is focussing on Kottayam, Idukki, Kozhikode and Wayanad districts in Kerala and Pollachi in Tamil Nadu. The programme will be extended to nutmeg growing areas in Maharashtra in the coming days.

The measures advocated to farmers include drying of nutmeg and mace to safe moisture content of less than 10 per cent, use artificial driers during rainy seasons and storage in moisture-proof rooms.

It is pointed out that nutmeg and mace are important spices that find wide applications in food industry and medicines and hence warrant utmost attention to monitoring quality. The countries in the European Union, Middle East, South Africa and Japan have been importing good quantities of these commodities in whole form as also in the form of oils and oleoresins.

Aflatoxin contamination does not affect crop productivity but makes the produce unfit for consumption as toxins are injurious to health. The importing countries have fixed stringent standards for permissible limits of aflatoxin in the commodities and it has affected the export of these items from the country.

Indian export of nutmeg and mace had gone up substantially from 1,530 tonnes, valued at Rs 31.17 crore, in 2005-06 to 3,276 tonnes, valued at Rs 91.17 crore, in 2009-10. However, the export declined to 2,100 tonnes in 2010-11, but improved in terms of value to Rs 97.77 crore.

The board has already conducted campaign meetings at Koorachundu and Thiruvambadi in Kozhikode district where substantial quantities of nutmeg are produced. Exporters, progressive farmers and scientists from the Indian Institute of Spices Research, Kerala Agriculture University and Spices Board addressed the meetings.

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