More than 10 percent of spices are contaminated by with bug parts and pathogens, according to an analysis of spice imports by federal food authorities.
The Food and Drug administration said 12 percent of spices brought into the United States are contaminated with insect parts, whole insects, and rodent hairs. They also found that nearly 7 percent of spice imports examined by federal inspectors were contaminated with salmonella, a toxic bacterium that can cause severe illness in humans, the New York Times reported.
The FDA said the testing of imported spices between 2007 and 2010 showed that spices twice as likely as other inspected foods to be contaminated with insect parts and salmonella. More than 80 different types of salmonella were detected.
Jane M. Van Doren, a food and spice official at the FDA told the New York Times the agency's findings "are a wake-up call" to spice producer.
"It means: 'Hey, you haven't solved the problems,'" she said.
As reported by the New York Times, the agency called spice contamination "a systemic challenge" and said most of the insects found in spices were the kind that thrives in warehouses and other storage facilities. This suggests that the industry's problems result not from poor harvesting practices but poor storage and processing.
The FDA said that during the three-year period, 749 shipments of spice were refused entry into the United States because of salmonella contamination while 238 other shipments were denied because of the presence of what the FDA calls "filth" - insects, excrement, hair or other materials, the Epoch Times reported.
The agency said that some of the spices that were found contaminated at the border were later cooked or treated to eliminate possible pathogens; so much of the salmonella was likely gone by the time the spices were eaten.
Michael Taylor, FDA's deputy commissioner for foods, told the Epoch Times the agency is "not recommending that consumers stay away from spices," though the chances of someone getting sick can be reduced by adding spices to food before it is cooked.
According to the agency, the amount of spice generally eaten at a meal is small, meaning people have less of a chance of getting sick from a contaminated spice than a contaminated fruit or vegetable, for example.
Spokesman for the American Spice Trade Association John Hallagan told the New York Times he couldn't comment on the report because he had not seen it. But he noted that spice manufacturers have argued in the past that food manufacturers often treated imported spices before marketing them, so FDA findings of contaminations levels in its import screening program do not necessarily mean that spices sold to consumers are dangerous.
FDA inspectors found that some spices that claim to have been treated are contaminated nonetheless. And the high levels of filth from insects and rodents is a problem that is not easily resolved because, unlike with salmonella contamination, simply cooking or heating the spices will not rid the products of the problem.
Insects can also be a source of salmonella contamination.
According to the report, spices are produced by a wide variety of agricultural practices, including "on very small farms where farm animals are used to plow, crops are harvested by hand, and spices are dried in open air."
All of these practices have the potential for animal, bird or human contamination. Off the farm, spices from the small farms are often combined, sold to exchanges or packing companies, or stored for years, increasing the chances that they are temporarily in unclean circumstances, the Epoch Times reported.
Recent legislation in the U.S. grants the FDA the power to refuse entry of foods that the agency even suspects might be contaminated - strong leverage to demand changes in harvesting, handling and manufacturing practices in foreign countries, according to the New York Times.
Spice imports from Mexico and India have been found to have the highest rate of contamination. Nearly one-quarter of the spices, oils and food colorings used in the United States comes from India, according to the FDA.
