Spices Board examining S'pore, Hong Kong ban on few MDH and Everest products on quality concern
New Delhi, Apr 22: Spices Board of India on Monday said it is looking into the ban imposed by Hong Kong and Singapore on the sale of four spices-mix products of Indian brands MDH and Everest, which allegedly contain pesticide 'ethylene oxide' beyond permissible limits.
While the food safety regulator of Hong Kong has asked consumers not to buy these products and traders not to sell, the Singapore Food Agency has directed a recall of the products.
"We are looking into the matter. We are at it," Spices Board of India Director A B Rema Shree told PTI.
The companies could not be contacted immediately.
In its April 5 statement, the Hong Kong's Center for Food Safety (CFS) said that the samples of several kinds of pre-packaged spice-mix products of two Indian brands were found to contain a pesticide, ethylene oxide. These products are MDH's Madras Curry Powder (Spice blend for Madras Curry), Everest Fish Curry Masala, MDH Sambhar Masala Mixed Masala Powder, MDH Curry Powder Mixed Masala Powder.
"Investigations are ongoing," CFS said.
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Authority has directed "members of the public should not consume the affected products. The trade should also stop using or selling the affected products immediately if they possess any of them," the statement said.
The CFS collected the samples from three retail outlets in Tsim Sha Tsui, respectively for testing under its routine Food Surveillance Programme. "The test results showed that the samples contained a pesticide, ethylene oxide," a CFS spokesperson said in a statement.
The CFS has informed the vendors concerned of the irregularities and instructed them to stop sale and remove from shelves the affected products, it added.
According to the CFS's directive, the distributors and importers concerned have initiated recalls on the affected products. CFS said the International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified 'ethylene oxide' as a Group 1 carcinogen. CFS said an offender who sells food items containing pesticide residue beyond permissable limits is liable to a maximum fine of USD 50,000 and to imprisonment for six months upon conviction.
After Hong Kong's directive, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) also ordered a recall of imported 'Everest Fish Curry Masala' from India and the recall is ongoing.
"The Centre for Food Safety in Hong Kong has issued a notification on the recall of Everest Fish Curry Masala from India due to the presence of ethylene oxide at levels exceeding permissible limit," SFA said in a statement last week. India is the world's largest producer, consumer and exporter of spices.
In 2022-23 fiscal, the country exported spices worth nearly Rs 32,000 crore. Chilli, cumin, spice oil and oleoresins, turmeric, curry powder and cardamom are major spices exported.
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FIDE Women's World Cup final: Humpy draws with Divya in first game
Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): Young Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh held her nerves to hold stalwart Koneru Humpy to a draw in game 1 of the FIDE Women's World Cup final, with both players having their share of opportunities to take the lead here on Saturday.
The draw with black means Humpy, the two-time World Rapid champion, holds a slight edge going in the second and final game under the classical chess rules in the two-game mini-match, and should the deadlock continue, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.
Humpy employed the Queen's gambit accepted as black and it turned out to be a pretty fascinating game right out of the opening as Divya, 19, came up with a piece sacrifice early to deny the black king the right to castle.
Humpy was the first to err and, according to computers, Divya had things under control on the 14th move. However in her bid to recover the extra material, the Nagpur girl, who has secured a place in the Candidates tournament with her sterling performance here, missed a promising continuation.
What followed the exchange of all minor pieces and the ensuing queen and rook endgame gave enough counter play to both players. The game was eventually drawn after Humpy sacrificed her rook to force perpetual checks.
"The game saw an extremely sharp battle with the game ending in a draw in 41 moves. On move 7, Divya made her aggressive intentions clear by offering another pawn,
which looked like home preparation. Humpy made a practical decision of refraining from taking the pawn and a balanced position was reached by move 10 by white," said Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, an Arjuna awardee and the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster norm.
"However, instead of developing the undeveloped Knight, Humpy retreated the centralised Knight on move 10, giving huge positional advantage to Divya. Divya could have gained huge positional advantage on the 12th move by moving a rook. However, she chose to play for King side attack by sacrificing a piece instead.
"Humpy, too, erred at this stage and instead of moving the King to Queen side, moved it to the King side. Divya, on move 14, could have obtained a crushing attack by threatening a mate by developing her Queen. Instead she chose to exchange a pair of Bishops first, which enabled Humpy to defend her King by returning the piece," said Thipsay.
"Players thus reached a balanced Queen and two Rooks ending. Divya continued to play ambitiously and tried to attack Humpy’s King but the latter defended accurately and the game was drawn in 41 moves by perpetual check," he added.
In the play-off for the third place, Chinese players Zhongyi Tan, the former women's world champion and top seed Lei Tingjie also decided to split points out of a Queen’s gambit declined game.
The opening raised visions of a close contest between the two but having been knocked out of title race in the previous round, none of them wanted to take any huge risk. It was still a middle game when the players shook hands.
With the top two positions sealed for the Indians, the berth to the next Candidates is also assigned, while the player finishing third will also get an entry to the premier event scheduled for 2026.
Results: Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind); Zhongyi Tan (Chn) drew with Tingjie Lei (Chn).
