Banned chemicals in Kerala food items: From banana chips and chilli powder to plum cake

Thiruvananthapuram: Tests on samples collected by Kerala’s Food Safety Commissionerate between April 2024 and March 2025 have revealed an alarming cocktail of banned colours, preservatives and pesticides, some at levels as high as 3,500% above the permissible limit, in foods sold across the state.

The authorities tested over 650 samples of edible items sold in the state to prepare their report. Their findings include:

• Rhodamine B, an industrial dye which turns any food poisonous even at minute levels, was found in palm sugar and jaggery produced from sugarcane.
• Amaranth, a carcinogenic chemical, was present in roseberry, beef chilli and dried plum.
• Orange 2, another harmful chemical, was found in red gram and lemon pickles.
• Traces of other cancer-linked substances named Sudan I, III and IV were detected in locally-produced and branded chilli powders.

The Commissionerate’s report said that traces of various chemicals were found in repeated tests on foods such as different types of mixtures, plum cake, banana chips, chilli powder, Kashmiri chilli powder, chicken preparations, ‘mandi’, ‘alfam’ dishes, jaggery, coriander powder and whole coriander.

Measure of toxins found

Here are some of the worst excesses flagged in the report:

• Plum cake: Sorbate preservative 790% above limits
• Choconut cake: Sorbate 748%
• Sona grapes: Acetamiprid pesticide 3,500%
• Ivy gourd: Acetate pesticide 3,100%
• Green grapes: Kresoxim-methyl pesticide 3,200%
• Cumin seeds: Metalaxyl pesticide 1,500%
• Coriander powder: Chlorpyrifos-ethyl 1,200%
• Chilli powder: Ethion pesticide 1,240%
• Red chillies: Difenoconazole 900%
• Kashmiri chilli powder: Difenoconazole 2,130%
• Toor dal: Uric acid 1,519%

Tartrazine tops the list
According to the report, tartrazine—an artificial colouring agent—was the most common impurity, detected in 140 samples, often in combination with other colours. Sunset Yellow FCF, another banned dye, appeared in 106 of the 650 samples.

Among pesticides, chlorpyrifos-ethyl was the most widespread, turning up in 46 samples. Tebuconazole and difenoconazole were also frequently detected in 34 and 30 samples respectively.