Checks on spices as part of a food fraud project in Finland didn’t find any authenticity issues but did uncover Salmonella contamination.
Monitoring was targeted at operators whose batches were found to have been non-compliant in the past. Of 24 spices investigated, 11 received a reprimand for minor labeling and microbial issues, and five products were blocked but no prohibited dyes were found.
Curry, chili, paprika, and turmeric samples were tested for 20 banned food dyes in the lab with a focus on Sudan dyes but were all negative.
One of the rejected spices contained Salmonella and four had high levels of pesticide residues. One of the spices had incorrect labeling.
All five blocked products came from Asian countries, but three had been imported to Finland via another EU member state.
FoodWorld 