Spices and condiments are seldom adulterated, because sellers like the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) – which operates a large wholesale market in Vashi, Navi Mumbai – take complete precautions to supply and sell goods as per the regulations of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, according to Kirti Rana, director, APMC's spice market.
He added, “To safeguard the spices, we add preservatives suitable to the type of spice, the climatic conditions at the place of production and the climatic conditions at the places where they would be consumed. But at times, the consumer mistake the preservatives for ingredients used for adulteration. This could also be because of rumours that do the rounds.”
Oil and salt are used as preservatives for chillies, which are imported from various states of the country. The quantity the 180 wholesalers in Vashi add is essential and is as per the climatic conditions of Maharashtra. As far as chillies are concerned, they are faint red in colour, so artificial red colour is used to give the impression that they are fresh.
In some cases, artificial flavour or aroma is added and unscrupulous sellers pass it off as a Grade I spice to lure customers and earn an extra profit. “Although there have been cases of adulteration in spices in various parts of the world, we at the APMC market (which employs about 100 people for grading, powder-making, storage, etc.) ensures that there is no such malpractice,” Rana said.
He said, “Now the APMC market distributes and trades about 3,500-4,000 trucks of agricultural produce, and feeds a population of approximately 2.5 crore. But cases of adulteration are not rampant; there may be just one or two cases here and there. So blaming the traders is not justified.” In fact, Indian spices – renowned the world over for their nutritional value – are in demand.
Now Japan is one of the largest importers of cardamom, coriander and cumin from India. The US imports about 90 per cent of the world's total psyllium husk, a herb and soluble fibre known to affect metabolism significantly and be an effective cure for both diarrhoea and constipation. By providing a feeling of fullness, it helps in weight control.
Government policies
Commenting on the policies framed by the government, Rana said, “Our government keeps coming up with rules and regulations, but they need to be more practical while drafting the rules and taking the wholesalers into consideration, as the rules are made for them. Although the rules pertain to food safety and not to adulteration, the infrastructure to implement and adhere to them is inadequate.”
“Spices and condiments are imported and exported at the international level, but there are no laboratories in India to test spices as per the international safety standards before exporting them. However, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has approved 37 mobile labs, but this number would not be sufficient, as there are approximately 3,500 traders in the APMC market,” he said.
Rana said, “There are other important things that FSSAI should take note of. For instance, Indian farmers use a number of pesticides which are banned in America and other European countries, so why is India allowing the usage of these harmful pesticides?”
“Also for the safety of the product, several parameters must be kept in mind conducting lab tests. For instance, if chillies are brought from Andhra Pradesh, people should know what pesticides are used, how much is the percentage of pesticides used, when did it come to the market, will the consumption of these pesticides grown product safe consumption, etc.,” he added.
“Research and development is always welcome and essential for the success. But adopting a genetic way for the production is not good, as original taste and nutrition is lost in the process. Government officials should instead see that people do not produce genetic foods and also ensure that the urea used for the crops is from America and not from India”, Rana said.
'We're specialists'
Responding to Kapil Sibal's comment that wholesalers are middlemen, Rana said, “We are not middlemen, we are specialists. We know every aspect of our product, be it trading, storage, consumers' demand, grading, output or input. Calling us middlemen doesn’t do any justice to our profession as wholesale traders.”
“Today there is a trend of organic food. But has anyone ever noted that in the name of organic food, there is so much money looted from customers whereas middle-class people can’t even afford it. Instead I would say Kapil Sibal is a middleman who don’t have know about the wholesale business or farmers' plight and wants to bring Walmart, which has already proven itself unsuccessful in foreign countries, to India.
We may get little profit on the arrival of Walmart, but we are not fine with the discriminatory treatment that we are getting,” Rana, who is into trading of spices and condiment for the past 40 years and has travelled all over the world to learn new techniques and apply and teach new acquired knowledge to India, said.
He said, “We have been paying heavy taxes to the government from the profits or loss we make, but what is the government doing in return for us? Even if the government sets aside a small amount from our paid taxes for to educate small wholesale traders, train them and introduce them to new technology, its operation will be more beneficial to government in return.
Then there would be no need of FDI in India. Provided with the same infrastructure that other countries have, we Indians can come up with our own Indiamart. Given a chance and the support of the government we can become a world-class agricultural market.”
