Parliament Question: Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards violations

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3866 ANSWERED ON 27/03/2026 SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY STANDARDS VIOLATIONS 3866. DR. ASHOK KUMAR MITTAL Will the Minister of COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY be pleased to state: (a) the total volume of Indian processed food export consignments rejected by foreign regulators due to Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards (SPS) violations recently; (b) whether the presence of unapproved pesticide residues and heavy metals has severely damaged the global credibility of Indian food brands; (c) the details of the failure of domestic quality control agencies to enforce strict pre- shipment laboratory testing; (d) the consequent loss of market share in the European Union (EU) and the Middle East; and (e) the steps taken to establish internationally accredited food testing laboratories across all major agricultural export zones? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (SHRI JITIN PRASADA) (a) to (e) Rejections of agricultural products by importing countries are notified as non- compliances. The reasons for the non-compliance differ from product to product and are majorly because of the difference in standard limit of constituents. The available details of non- compliance, as notified by the importing countries recently for key commodities are placed at Annexure. The exports of processed food items to the European Union have grown by approximately 49.5% during the period 2020–21 to 2024–25, while the exports of processed food products to the Middle East countries have risen by approximately 18% during the same period. Pre-shipment analysis is not a mandatory requirement for exports of agricultural products. It is carried out for those products for which the importing country has specifically notified the requirement. The non-compliances issued by importing country, apart from presence of unauthorized ingredients, detection of pesticide residues and contaminants are due to other reasons as well, such as discrepancy in documentation, deficiency in requisite documents etc. Hence, the details on the failure of domestic quality control agencies cannot be determined. Export Inspection Council (EIC) has recognized 86 laboratories across the country which are accredited by National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) under the integrated assessment scheme to meet export testing requirements. Further, NABL 1has informed that laboratories accredited by them under the integrated assessment scheme are individually recognized by APEDA (95), Tea Board (56), Spices Board (3), IOPEPC (36) and SHEFEXIlL (13) for analysis of products under the mandate of respective organization for exports. The Government is continuously taking steps to strengthen and expand testing infrastructure in order to facilitate exports and ensure compliance with international standards. New laboratory facilities are being developed to meet regional testing needs, improve testing capabilities and better serve exporters. ***** Annexure Annexure referred to in reply to Part (a) of the Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 3866 for answer on 27.03.2026. Details of commodity wise non-compliance received from Importing countries. Importing countries Commodity Number of non-compliances (2025) European Union Peanut and Peanut Products 15 Processed Food Products 29 Seafood 19 Spices 73 Indonesia Peanut and Peanut Products 12 Thailand Peanut 8 Australia Peanut and Peanut Products 3 Other Processed foods 5 Spices 17 Japan Seafood 4 USA Seafood 41 Spices 169 Russia Sea food 6 Singapore Spices 2 Philippines Spices 2 Hong Kong Spices 4 * Source: As compiled by APEDA, MPEDA, and Spices Board, based on the information available on Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) portal of European Commission and the non-compliances received from the Competent Authorities of importing Countries. 2