HK, Singapore food regulators red flag ‘cancer-causing’ ingredient in certain MDH, Everest spices

Food regulators in Hong Kong and Singapore have warned people against using four products from two big spice brands — three from MDH and one from Everest — over the presence of ethylene oxide at “levels exceeding the permissible limit”.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified ethylene oxide as a ‘Group 1 carcinogen’.

In a statement posted on its website on



April 5, the Centre for Food Safety (CFS), Hong Kong’s food regulatory authority, said that three spice products of MDH — Madras Curry Powder (spice blend for Madras Curry), Sambhar Masala (Mixed Masala Powder), and Curry Powder (Mixed Masala Powder) — along with Everest’s Fish Curry Masala contain “a pesticide, ethylene oxide”.

Both MDH and Everest Foods were yet to comment on the food regulators’ claims.