The country's premier food body came to the conclusion after extensive testing of the samples of spices sold by the two companies. — A man buys packets of MDH spices at a store in Amritsar.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has announced that it didn’t find ethylene oxide (ETO), a cancer-causing chemical, in MDH and Everest products’ samples.
The country’s premier food regulator came to the conclusion after extensive testing of the samples of spices sold by the two companies, reported ANI.

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Investigation

The investigation was carried out after the Hong Kong Food Authority alleged that certain spice products sold by Mahashian Di Hatti Pvt Ltd (MDH) and M/s Everest Food Products Pvt Ltd (Everest) were found to contain higher than permissible amounts of the chemical.
After the Hong Kong authority recalled the products, FSSAI launched a nationwide inspection drive on April 22, involving all state and union territory food safety commissioners and regional directors.
It collected 34 samples of Everest and MDH spices for testing — 9 from Everest’s facilities in Maharashtra and Gujarat, and 25 from those of MDH’s in Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan.

Accordind to news agency,

Per the news agency, they also tested the products on several other parameters, including moisture content, insect and rodent contamination, heavy metals, aflatoxins, pesticide residues and various microbiological contaminants.
The samples were tested for ethylene oxide at NABL-accredited laboratories.
The body has received 28 lab reports so far. The food regulator’s Scientific Panel analysed the samples and found that the chemical was absent in them.
Per the report, the panel also analysed test reports of 300 more spice samples of other brands but didn’t find traces of the cancer-causing substance, showing that Indian products are safe for consumption. Also Read:-https://livendtv.com/prajwal-revanna-apologises/

What is Ethylene oxide?

Ethylene oxide is used to sterilise spices. The chemical can potentially pose health risks, including cancer, if the residue exceeds safe levels. This threshold differs from country to country.
India is the biggest exporter of spices in the world, followed by Vietnam.

IANS,

New Delhi, May 21 (IANS) Amid the global furore over the alleged presence of a “cancer-causing substance” in certain spices from India, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has cleared more than a dozen samples of spices from MDH and Everest brands. According to the analysis report, the extensive testing found no traces of ethylene oxide (ETO) in the samples collected from several states.
The rigorous process of testing for ethylene oxide was performed at NABL-accredited laboratories notified by the FSSAI.
The food regulator also picked up 300 spice samples of other brands for testing and found “no presence of ETO”.
The testing process began after several countries started monitoring spice products manufactured by Indian spice giants MDH and Everest over the alleged presence of a ‘cancer-causing’ agent. Food regulators in Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand warned against using certain products from MDH and Everest over the presence of ethylene oxide at ”
levels exceeding the permissible limit”.
The Spices Board, under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, had said that all spice consignments would be accompanied by a cleared analytical report for ETO issued by the Spices Board.
Both MDH and Everest have said their products are safe for consumption.
–IANS

FSSAI finds no traces of carcinogen ethylene oxide in MDH, Everest spices

The analyses were conducted at NABL-accredited laboratories notified by FSSAI, ensuring adherence to relevant Food Safety and Standards Regulations.
Out of the 34 samples collected, 28 lab reports have been received, with six reports still pending. The received reports, examined by the Scientific Panel at FSSAI, showed no traces of carcinogen ethylene oxide (EtO). Similarly, over 300 samples of spices from other brands, tested across the country, also indicated no presence of EtO.
The scientific panel includes experts from the Spice Board, CSMCRI (Gujarat), Indian Spice Research Institute (Kerala), NIFTEM (Haryana), BARC (Mumbai), CMPAP (Lucknow), DRDO (Assam), ICAR, and the National Research Centre on Grapes (Pune).
In response to these findings, the Spice Board of India has issued guidelines to exporters on the use of EtO as a fumigant for sterilising spices to meet the microbial contamination standards of importing countries.