India’s MDH says its spices safe after quality allegations

Hong Kong this month suspended sales of three MDH spice blends and an Everest spice mix for fish curries Indian spice maker MDH said its products are safe for consumption, and the company has not received any communication from regulators and authorities in Hong Kong or Singapore about alleged contamination in its products. Hong Kong this month suspended sales of three MDH spice blends and an Everest spice mix for fish curries. Singapore ordered a recall of the Everest spice mix as well, saying it contains high levels of ethylene oxide, which is unfit for human consumption and a cancer risk with long exposure. or all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app. Read: US food regulator gathering information on Indian spices after alleged contamination   “We reassure our buyers and consumers that we do not use ethylene oxide at any stage of storing, processing, or packing our spices,” MDH said in a statement on Sunday. Reuters on Saturday reported the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was gathering information on products of MDH and Everest. MDH and Everest spices are among the most popular in India and are also sold in Europe, Asia and North America. Following the moves in Hong Kong and Singapore, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is checking the quality standards of the two companies. India’s Spices Board, the government’s regulator for spice exports, has sought data on MDH and Everest exports from authorities in Hong Kong and Singapore, and was working with the companies to find the “root cause” of the quality issues as inspections started at their plants. MDH said India’s FSSAI and Spices Board have not received any communication or test report from authorities in Hong Kong or Singapore. This reinforces that allegations against MDH are baseless, unsubstantiated, and not backed by any concrete evidence, the statement said. Everest has previously said its spices are safe for consumption. …………….. Chinese scholars found previously unknown microbial natural products from sea floor Chinese marine scientists have identified a plethora of previously unknown microbial natural products from the deep sea floor that may have pharmaceutical applications. In the cold seeps of the deep sea, microbial communities thrive on the geological seepage of hydrocarbons and inorganic compounds for sustenance, in stark contrast to the sunlight-dependent ecosystems that people are more familiar with on the surface. These organisms utilize biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) to synthesize natural products that help them contend for resources. These unknown natural products are believed to possess potent anti-microbial properties, which could be a game-changer in the fight against drug-resistant infections. The team of scientists, led by researchers from the Third Institute of Oceanography under the Ministry of Natural Resources, have analyzed 22 sediment cores from nine cold seeps, and detected natural product-encoding BGCs from 63 archaeal and bacterial phyla. A large proportion of the BGCs they discovered are likely to encode antimicrobial compounds, serving as chemical weapons for host defense and competition within the microbial community, according to the study published recently in the journal Science Advances. The findings provide a pathway to identify previously unrecognized antimicrobial compounds and other types of drugs, according to the researchers.

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