KOCHI (Commodity Online) : India’s Spices Board said it will soon launch a nationwide campaign to highlight the issue of aflatoxin affecting quality of spices.
According to the Board the campaign was aimed at farmers, traders and exporters in the major spice-growing areas to address the issue of aflatoxin and will necessarily involve training farmers on the issue.
The campaign was launched in Ponkunnam in Thrissur district (Kerala), a major nutmeg growing area, and would focus on quality of nutmeg and mace produced in India.
Kerala is a major producing centre of nutmeg and mace with the annual production between 4,000-5,000 tonnes. Countries in the European Union, West Asia, South Africa and Japan have been importing good quantities of these products in whole form besides in the form of oils and oleoresins.
Aflatoxin in nutmeg and mace has become a major issue especially in the European markets where many rapid alerts have been issued on the quality aspects.
Nutmeg and mace are important spices that find wide application in the food industry and medicine and hence the paramount importance in monitoring quality.
Countries in the European Union, Middle-East, South Africa, and Japan have been importing good quantities of these products in whole form besides in form of oils and oleoresins.
The major cause for the presence of aflatoxin is poor primary processing. As the crop is harvested during the monsoon season, sun drying is not possible and most farmers adopt traditional methods to dry the harvested nutmeg.
This results in inadequate drying and during storage it is very easily susceptible to fungal attack. "Thus drying of the produce at farmer's level to a safe moisture level at which growth of fungi and mould will be inhibited, becomes an important step in processing of nutmeg," a release from the Spices Board of India said.
Aflatoxin contamination does not affect crop productivity but it makes the produce unfit for consumption.
