Curry powders sold by different brands in Kerala contain substances that are hazardous to health like ethion, chlorpyrifos, fenpropathrin, permethrin and quinalphos. This was revealed in response to a query under the Right to Information (RTI) Act filed by Leonard John, a Kannur native. The RTI response was given by Food Safety Assistant Commissioners’ offices in Alappuzha and Palakkad in June this year.
Most of the brands, if not all, are highly advertised with celebrity brand ambassadors in the state. Leonard John had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking prohibition of manufacture and sale of the curry powders containing ethion pesticide. The petition also sought to issue a direction to the authorities to initiate proceedings to cancel the licence of all those brands and also to have a system to check and control such contamination and assess the risk, including risk analysis, risk assessment, risk communication and risk management.
Leonard John is a planter hailing from Kannur. He had filed an RTI query in 2019 too. In the response, (received from the Regional Analytical Laboratory Ernakulam) in February 2019, it was said that curry powders sold by certain brands include hazardous substances. He later filed a PIL at the Kerala High Court in the same year.
The PIL was filed as the state government failed to regulate and monitor the manufacture, processing and distribution of food. In the petition, it's also cited that ethion is an organophosphate pesticide used to kill aphids, mites, scales, thrips, leafhoppers, maggots and foliar feeding larvae, and it is a hazardous chemical which is included in the list of hazardous and toxic chemicals of the Chemical Accidents (Emergency Planning, Preparedness and Response) Rules 1996 and Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemicals Rules 1989. The High Court ordered, in September 2021, that the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and the regulations mandating a duty cast upon the authorities for suspension/cancellation of licence have to be followed strictly so that there is no recurrence.
Speaking to TNM, Leonard said, “But the government is yet to act on the court order. One of the officials told me that he has no right to cancel the licence of the brands. But why the reluctance when there is a court order?” Leonard filed RTI queries this year due to the government inaction.
However, Food Safety Commissioner VR Vinod told TNM that the department has acted on the cases in which some of the products were tested unsafe. “If any product is tested unsafe, that batch will be fully withdrawn from the market. It will be made sure that no unsafe product is in the market. Secondly, a case will be filed against those companies. This is done as per the provisions of the Food Safety Standards Act 2006.”
But when asked why the branded curry powders are still in the market, he said that there is no provision in the Act to withdraw the entire product but only the batch that was tested unsafe. According to him, more than 200 cases have been filed so far against companies that sell products which were tested unsafe. The case is filed as per the result of the lab test, he added.