— July-August 1998

• We tested ten brands of packed turmeric ; Surbhi, Madhur, MTR, Badshah, Everest, Bedekar, Food World, Nilgiri’s, Orkay and Ramdev. Quality-wise, Orkay, the most expensive (Rs. 9.00), was rated the best. Food World, the lowest priced at Rs. 5.75, came second. Surbhi, moderately-priced at Rs. 6.70, ranked the last.
  
• None of the brands carried the IS certification. Six brands carried Agmark certification for “quality and purity”. Of these, Everest, MTR and Surbhi claimed to be of Standard grade, whereas Badshah, Madhur and Ramdev were in the Coarse Ground grade.
  
• The various national and international standards revealed contrasting limits for some of the parameters. For example, the maximum limit in the Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act and the British Standards was 10 ppm for lead, as against the 2.5 ppm limit set by the Indian Standards (IS) and Agmark. Similarly, the PFA Act has also set a higher moisture limit (NMT 13%) than the not more than10 per cent specified by the IS and Agmark.
  
• The fineness of turmeric powder determines how well it mixes with food. Surbhi (96.6%), in spite of its claim of Agmark Standard Grade, failed to meet the 100 per cent specification set down by Agmark and the IS for fineness.
  
• Bedekar (96.6%) failed to come up to the IS limit (100%).
  
• Curcumin, a major component of turmeric, adds colour to food, and is also anti-inflammatory. The IS merely gives a minimum limit of 3 per cent for curcumin. Surbhi (4.8), Madhur (4.7%), Nilgiri’s (4.7) and MTR (4.2%) lay below the minimum requirement of the US standards (5-6.6%). However, Orkay (8.6%) and Food World (8%) exceeded the US range.
  
• A higher ash content in turmeric powder may indicate its lower quality. Presence of inorganic matter like dust and dirt, can reduce its actual turmeric content. MTR, though claiming the Agmark Standard grade, had 7.4 per cent of total ash the maximum stipulation of 7 per cent by Agmark.
  
• The Standards of Weights & Measures allow a maximum permissible error of 3 and 2 per cent for products weighing up to 100 gm, and between 100 and 500 gm, and between 100 and 500 gm, respectively, 14 out of the 28 packets (187-195 gm) of Everest tested, failed to meet even the maximum error limit for 200 gm. (i.e. 196 gm). Similarly, 3 packets (96.2 - 96.9 gm) of Food World (100 gm) weighed below the maximum permitted error of 97 gm.
  
• Although there are no limits set for gamma-BHC, a toxic pesticide which persists for long in the environment, only two brands, Madhur (3.30 ppm), and Surbhi (0.61 ppm), contained residual levels.
  
• None of the brands contained DDT, endosulfan and inorganic bromide, as well as chemical adulterants.
  
• Food World did not specify the batch number on the label. This is a violation of the PFA Act.
  
• Bedekar, Food World and Nilgiri’s did not give an expiry date on the label.

Details of the test report can be had in INSIGHT

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