Key Points:
- Rice, spices and mangoes face export restrictions
- Traceability gaps raise concerns over quality controls
ISLAMABAD: India’s farm exports are facing mounting food-safety red flags in major overseas markets, with concerns over pesticide residues, contamination and shortcomings in export certification and traceability.
Japan, China and the European Union have raised concerns over Indian agricultural shipments involving mangoes, rice, spices and other products.
The actions have included tighter inspections, rejected consignments and the withdrawal of import approvals.
Japan has raised concerns over procedures governing Indian mango exports, including treatment and certification requirements.
The issue has affected shipments of varieties, including Alphonso and Kesar, highlighting the difficulties Indian exporters can face in meeting stringent quarantine requirements.
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China revoked the import licences of three Indian rice exporters after authorities detected traces of genetically modified organisms in shipments.
Indian exporters disputed the findings, saying their consignments had been accompanied by certificates declaring them free of genetically modified material.
The European Union has repeatedly flagged Indian spices for pesticide residues and has tightened inspection requirements for several products from India.
The measures reflect concerns over compliance with the bloc’s maximum permitted residue levels.
Pesticide residues in farm exports
Recent European notifications have also identified pesticide residues in Indian cumin and rice, aflatoxin contamination in broken rice and unauthorised chlorpyrifos in turmeric.
The concerns point to a broader challenge in India’s agricultural supply chain: ensuring that safety and quality controls applied at the export stage can be traced back to individual farms.
India’s agricultural sector is dominated by smallholders, with most cultivators operating relatively small plots.
Produce can pass through farmers, traders, aggregators and processors before reaching exporters, complicating efforts to maintain consistent records of pesticide use and other production practices.
For international buyers, traceability has become increasingly important alongside laboratory testing.
Importing countries are tightening standards for pesticide residues, genetically modified material, contaminants and chemical use, particularly for food entering premium consumer markets.
India remains one of the world’s largest agricultural producers, but its share of global agricultural exports is comparatively modest.
Repeated food-safety alerts could add compliance costs for exporters and make it harder for Indian farm products to secure and retain access to demanding markets.
Indian authorities have been expanding laboratory capacity and strengthening certification and export-control systems in response to the concerns.
The government has also moved to tighten controls over some agricultural chemicals.
The challenge, however, extends beyond individual shipments. For India to significantly expand its agricultural exports, exporters and regulators will need to demonstrate reliable controls from the farm to the overseas market.
Repeated alerts could otherwise undermine buyer confidence and constrain India’s ambitions to claim a larger share of global food trade.
