India — Spices, Flavors, and Salts
India received 284 FDA import refusals in Spices, Flavors, and Salts between 2024-Q1 and 2026-Q4. Volume peaked at 38 in 2026-Q3, with the trend roughly flat year-on-year. The most-cited issues are filth, Salmonella, and unsafe color additive. No trade baseline is published for this commodity from India, so no per-$1B rate is shown here.
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Key figures
If you import spices, flavors, and salts from India
- Hazard or paperwork
- Of 297 refusals in the last 3 years, 288 were hazard findings and 9 paperwork alone.
- Where refusals happen
- DNEI — Northeast (125); DWCI — West Coast (78); DSWI — Southwest, the Mexican land border (38).
- Riskiest months
- July, June, August, by refusals since 2020.
- Test for before shipping
- Salmonella (175), filth (123), unsafe color additive (37), poisonous or deleterious substance (21), pesticide residue (12).
- Paperwork to get right
- color not declared (26), nutrition labeling (11), not in English (7).
FDA does not publish how many entries it examines, so no page can state a true probability of refusal; these are the figures that are published.
Quarterly refusals, last 12 quarters
Show the numbers
| Quarter | Refusals | Hazard | Paperwork |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-Q1 | 18 | 17 | 1 |
| 2024-Q2 | 20 | 20 | 0 |
| 2024-Q3 | 23 | 23 | 0 |
| 2024-Q4 | 25 | 25 | 0 |
| 2025-Q1 | 25 | 24 | 1 |
| 2025-Q2 | 26 | 25 | 1 |
| 2025-Q3 | 36 | 33 | 3 |
| 2025-Q4 | 19 | 19 | 0 |
| 2026-Q1 | 25 | 24 | 1 |
| 2026-Q2 | 21 | 21 | 0 |
| 2026-Q3 | 38 | 38 | 0 |
| 2026-Q4 | 8 | 6 | 2 |
By commodity, last 156 weeks
| Commodity | Refusals | 1 refusal per | Per $1B US imports | Most-cited hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spices-Other | 297 | 502 t | 417.4 | Salmonella |
| All products with import tonnes on record | 297 | 502 t |
"1 refusal per X t": tonnes of the same product imported for every one, over the same 156 weeks. A dash means fewer than 5 in the window, or under 1,000 t a year imported, too few to rate; the total row pools every product that has import tonnes on record.
Recent refusals
- KM6-3685157-8 PEPPER,BLACK, WHOLE (SPICE) Import division DNEI. filthSalmonella
- 82S-0005237-9 PEPPER,BLACK, WHOLE (SPICE) Import division DSWI. filthSalmonella
- KM6-3685825-0 PEPPER,BLACK, WHOLE (SPICE) Import division DSWI. filth
- 82S-0005221-3 TURMERIC, GROUND, CRACKED (SPICE) Import division DSWI. Salmonella
- SCS-7191918-5 PEPPER,BLACK, WHOLE (SPICE) Import division DSEI. filthSalmonella
- FY4-0123977-4 CINNAMON, CASSIA, GROUND, CRACKED (SPICE) Import division DNEI. false or misleading labelno manufacturer namenutrition labeling
- FY4-0124081-4 CINNAMON, CASSIA, GROUND, CRACKED (SPICE) Import division DNEI. false or misleading labelno manufacturer namenutrition labeling
- KM6-1653589-4 SPICES AND SEASONING, GROUND, CRACKED, WITH SALT, N.E.C. Import division DWCI. unsafe color additivecolor not declared
- KM6-1647376-5 PEPPER, BLACK, GROUND, CRACKED (SPICE) Import division DWCI. filth
- KM6-3681644-9 PEPPER,BLACK, WHOLE (SPICE) Import division DSWI. filth
- KM6-3684039-9 SPICES AND SEASONING, GROUND, CRACKED, WITH SALT, N.E.C. Import division DNEI. unsafe color additivecolor not declarednot in English
- KM6-3682505-1 SPICES AND SEASONING, GROUND, CRACKED, WITH SALT, N.E.C. Import division DNEI. Salmonella
- 85B-7499410-3 PEPPER, BLACK, GROUND, CRACKED (SPICE) Import division DNEI. filthSalmonella
- NFL-0005178-8 PEPPER,BLACK, WHOLE (SPICE) Import division DWCI. filthSalmonella
- KM6-3686972-9 CAPSICUMS (CAYENNE CHILI, HOT PEPPERS), GROUND, CRACKED (SPICE) Import division DNBI. Salmonella
- SCS-6238398-7 PEPPER, BLACK, GROUND, CRACKED (SPICE) Import division DSEI. filthSalmonella
- KM6-3677866-4 MIXED SPICES AND SEASONING WITH SALT, N.E.C. Import division DNEI. filth
- KM6-3687342-4 CORIANDER, GROUND, CRACKED (SPICE) Import division DNEI. Salmonella
- K79-0194679-1 PEPPER,BLACK, WHOLE (SPICE) Import division DNEI. filth
- KM6-3683373-3 MUSTARD, WHOLE (SPICE) Import division DNEI. Salmonellaunsafe color additivecolor not declared
Data and downloads
Download all 578 entries (CSV) — every refusal behind this page, with its import division, FDA product code, charges and whether it was a hazard finding or paperwork.
The file holds entries up to 2026-10-20. To get new ones for India by email, watch India.
India country report since 2020 — every refusal by year, charge and import division →