Celebrating World Food Safety Day

How the Spice Industry Promotes Global Food Safety Throughout the Spice Supply Chain

Food safety is a core focus of the spice sector, an inherently global industry that long-ago shaped trade routes still essential in today’s supply chain. Those lasting trade routes have received much attention as COVID-19 lockdowns and port congestion have pressured the supply chain and prompted major economic challenges globally.

Spice companies must manage food safety risks throughout the supply chain to ensure pure, safe spices are available for consumers. Spices are grown all over the world in more than 50 countries, with India, Vietnam, and China amongst the leading producers. The United States is the world’s largest importer of spices—nearly all spices consumed in the U.S. are imported and dependent on a steady global supply network. ?

The American Spice Trade Association (ASTA) represents the U.S. spice industry and is committed to ensuring the supply of pure, safe spice. Laura Shumow, ASTA’s Executive Director states, “ASTA and our members are dedicated to promoting the safety and integrity of the spice supply chain. Supporting public health and protecting consumers is ASTA’s top priority. To this end, ASTA provides a range of resources and conducts research to ensure companies have the tools they need to meet that goal.”

Upholding food safety is an intrinsic part of the spice supply chain. Managing pathogens, particularly Salmonella, is a top priority across the sector. In 2013, FDA conducted a risk profile on spices that “identified Salmonella as the pathogen most commonly associated with human illness attributed to consumption of contaminated spices, and concluded that the presence of Salmonella is a systemic challenge in the spice supply system.”

Erik Knedgen, Quality Assurance Manager at ASTA member company Kalsec, Inc. and past chair of the ASTA Food Safety Committee, describes the reasons for this challenge: “Due to the environments in which they are grown, spices and herbs often harbor microorganisms, including bacteria. These include potential spoilage organisms and pathogens of public health significance.” Erik notes, “Throughout the process of growing, harvesting, drying, and transport, spices are exposed to microorganisms indigenous to the soil, and from dust, insects, birds, rodents, and other animals. As such, raw unprocessed spices commonly carry bacteria and fungi, including microorganisms that cause spoilage and foodborne pathogens including Salmonella.”

“To address this risk, spices must undergo extensive agricultural cleaning, including further industry processing and treatment to kill pathogens and ensure the product is safe,” Erik explains.

The industry uses a variety of treatment methods to control Salmonella. Common methods include steam and other natural heat treatment methods, irradiation, ethylene oxide, and propylene oxide.?Treatment is an essential food safety step in the spice supply chain, and it has been very successful in controlling pathogens. FDA updated its risk profile for spices in 2017 with Salmonella testing in spices sold at retail establishments, and found, “No Salmonella-positive samples were found for cumin, sesame seed, or white pepper, which would be expected if all shipments had undergone a highly efficient pathogen reduction treatment after entry and before being offered for sale at retail establishments.”

To ensure the supply of safe, pure spice in the U.S. continues, companies must comply with the Preventive Controls for Human Food rule under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), which requires the control of all food safety hazards. Any processes to control hazards such as?Salmonella?must be validated to ensure that they are effective at achieving a 5-log reduction. ASTA has developed many resources on how to validate spice process controls and recently published updated guidance that outlines a science-based approach to validating a grouping of spices using a worst-case scenario representative product.

“Spice companies also rely on Good Manufacturing Practices, which include sanitation and training programs, as well as testing, to ensure that these practices are effective,” notes Jill Hoffman, Senior Director of Quality and Food Safety at ASTA member company B&G.

Although pathogen control is the spice industry’s top food safety priority, mitigating the potential for ?contamination from other natural hazards including allergens and heavy metals is also a key area of focus. Spice companies accomplish this through good agricultural practices, supply chain controls, testing, and monitoring programs.

Providing education is the main way that ASTA fosters food safety in the spice industry. ASTA has published a wide array of publicly available resources on food safety including ASTA’s Clean, Safe Spice Guidance, Identification and Prevention of Adulteration Guidance Document, Good Manufacturing Practice Guide for Spices, and HACCP Guide for Spices and Seasonings. Additionally, ASTA offers web-based series for purchase on microbiology of spices, validation, FSMA requirements, and more.

Maintaining strong relationships with producers in growing regions is another crucial tool to promote global food safety practices. ASTA partners with governments, allied trade associations, and NGOs based in the top spice-producing regions to provide information and develop food safety systems training for farmers and global stakeholders. ASTA also serves as the chair for the International Organization of Spice Trade Associations, a body made up of spice associations around the world that work together to promote food safety throughout the spice supply chain by publishing resources in many different languages.

Through our industry’s commitment to prioritizing consumer health and promoting global partnerships to ensure a safe, pure spice supply chain, every day is world food safety day in the world of spices.