Spices are the heart and soul of Indian cooking, No Indian house is complete without spices. Most of us use these spices daily to enhance the taste and flavor of our dietary cuisines which may be Indian or Continental. Until today it is known that these spices are meant for taste enhancement, but here comes the twist in the plot research regarding these spices says that the” MDH & Everest Brands for masala spices contain cancer-causing ingredients”. 

Now let’s understand the usage statistics of Everest Spices:

Spices that we use in our recipes to enhance the flavor and good taste, on behalf of these MHD and Everest spices, are banned due to the presence of a pesticide/ingredient called “ ethylene oxide “Hong Kong and Singapore restricted the sales and banned the well-known Indian household masala the MDH and Everest spices after finding cancer-causing pesticide called ethylene oxide in it, which is group 1 carcinogen. Ethylene oxide is unsuitable for human consumption and it is a well-known pesticide ingredient.

On April 5th the government of Hong Kong collected the samples of MHD and Everest and tested them resulting in the presence of ethylene Oxide which is a group 1 carcinogen.

The spices that have been banned in Hong Kong are MDH madras curry powder, MDH sambar masala, and Everest fish curry masala; these have stopped the sale due to the presence of beyond acceptable limits. Hongkong Center for Food Safety (CFS) and Singapore Food Agency (SFA) recalled these brands and investigated and found them to be not safe for human consumption due to the presence of carcinogenic pathogens called “ethylene oxide”. Recently Maldives also stopped the sale of these brands. 

What is Ethylene Oxide? 

Another name for ethylene oxide is Dimethylene oxide. It's a chemical compound (gaseous category) that can be used in several ways such as a sterilizing agent in hospitals and used as a fumigant in processed foods and antifreeze, although it has flammable functions. It is used as a preservative in processed foods and spices.  It is mainly known as a pesticide and is not meant for human consumption. Eating ethylene oxide in small amounts does not affect immediately but long exposure can cause several health effects on people.

What happens if people consume ethylene oxide?

As a result of short-term diseases such as it causes irritation of the eyes, mucous membrane and respiratory irritation, Vomiting, headache, dizziness, diarrhea, nausea, lung injury, shortness of breath, etc. As a chronic result, it causes cancer, especially breast cancer lymphohematopoietic and intestinal cancers lung cancer etc. It can cause various cancers. IARC  ( International Agency Research on Cancer ) And USEPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency), EtO declared that ethylene is a carcinogenic agent.

In 2011 the European Union banned the use of ethylene oxide in food products. In 2019 the United States recalled some of the  Everest,  MHD products and tested, as a result, that both brands are contaminated by salmonella, a bacteria that causes adverse effects on human beings including fever, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, typhoid fever, headache, vomiting, nausea, constipation etc. Long-term diseases due to salmonella infection are  Reactive Arthritis which is very hard to treat. Symptoms include irritating eyes and pain during urination. Salmonella infection can spread to various parts of the body.