15 May, 2008 – Tough new rules imposed by the European Commission on Indian guar gum imports have come into force after a dioxin contamination incident last year. Guar gum is used as an additive in a range of foods.
From this month, any guar gum originating from India for import into the EU for human or animal consumption must be accompanied by an original analytical report from an accredited laboratory, or one seeking accreditation and which have the necessary quality control procedures in place, states the EC measure.
In order to be allowed into the EU, the report must show any shipment does not contain “more than 0.01 mg/kg pentachlorophenol (PCP)”, the EC has declared. The results of test must also be endorsed by a “representative of the competent authority from the country where the laboratory is located”.
However, the EU’s Food and Veterinary Office has said only one Indian laboratory currently meets the standards to be able to carry out the safety inspections.
The EC said: “The Vimta Labs, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh is the only laboratory in India which fulfils the requirement of accreditation and/or having in place the appropriate quality control schemes.”
But in a bid to avoid what could be a near halting of guar gum shipments from India, the EC has agreed for European laboratories to be able to perform the PCP safety test “in order to relieve the administrative burden”.
A list of EU labs is to be published on the SANCO website and reports from these will be “endorsed automatically by the competent authority of the country where the laboratory is located”.
But analytical reports from labs elsewhere in the EU will need to be individually endorsed by the competent authority of the country where the test is carried out in order to comply, insists the EC.
The new measure has been imposed after Swiss company Unipektin AG, which supplies guar gum products to EU markets, recalled several batches of food additives containing guar gum sent by India Glycols in July 2007.
Following the contamination incident, an EU team of experts inspected Indian guar gum plants towards the end of last year. The report they produced was critical of Indian safety procedures.
India accounts for 80% of world guar gum trade and its exports topped US$450 million in 2006/07.