Mumbai, March 11 - Indian controls are inadequate to prevent contamination in manufacturing guar gum, the European Union (EU) said in a final report based on an inspection carried out in October 2007.
The EU also said the official Indian investigation had been inadequate and has asked authorities to probe further and identify the source of dioxin and pentachlorophenol (PCP) in guar gum lots exported to Europe.
"Exports will continue with certification from a private Indian lab accredited by the EU authorities," Rajeev Kher, joint secretary, federal trade ministry, told Reuters on Tuesday. Hyderabad-based Vimta Specialities Lab has been accredited by EU, he added. "The certification is necessary for food grade guar gum only and not industrial grade."
Kher said India has asked for accredition of more labs to give industry choice and expedite the certification process.
In July and August last year, 16 of the EU's 27 member states had toxin-related recalls of food products containing guar gum. EU mations are major importers of Indian food grade guar gum.
The EU alert had hit Indian food grade guar gum exports to Europe. Indian guar gum exports during April-Oct were down 19 percent to 5.42 billion rupees.
The report said carcinogenic PCP is used extensively in industrial guar gum manufacturing and might have contaminated food grade, which is usually not manufactured separately.
In the draft report submitted in November, the EU had asked for separation of food and industrial grade manufacturing.
Kher said,"PCP is prohibited in food grade guar gum manufacturing.. we have informed the industry that anyone using PCP will face action under Insecticides Act."
"This will be a setback for the industry..the cost of export will go up with certification, which is very expensive," said Suresh Mantri, an analyst with Ventura Commodities Pvt Ltd.
The cost of testing is 25,000 rupees per tonne of sample.
The contamination issue began with a Swiss food company Unipektin AG, recalling batches of food additives containing guar gum sent by India Glycol , a large exporter.
"To put a proper system in place we have asked a guar promotion body to institute a system of monitoring guar gum exports to prevent any contamination cases," Kher said.
Kher was refering to Shellac and Forest Produce Export Promotion Council.
India accounts for about 80 percent of the world's guar gum trade and exported about 13 billion rupees worth of the commodity in 2006/07.
Food grade guar gum is used as an additive in a wide variety of foods -- dairy products such as yoghurts, ice-cream and soft cheese, bread, pasta, ham sausages, prepared fish and pastries.