Recently, the Indian Express a worrying issue, namely the U.S. rejection of Indian foods. Food safety has always been a core issue in global trade. When foods are rejected, this means that there may be serious quality and safety issues, which is a huge blow to any exporting country.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) data, between October 2019 and September 2023, food from Mexico and India had the highest number of rejections in the United States. Mexico ranks first with 5,374 batches, followed by India with 3,925 batches.

Of India’s food, 953 items were rejected because they were “unclean,” while 786 items were rejected because they contained salmonella.

Nestlé India, for example, rejected 110 units of food exported to the United States, accounting for 3.7% of its total exports. Of those products rejected, the main reason is that they contain “dirty, rotten or degraded substances”.In addition, nutrition and ingredient information errors on product labels are also a common cause of rejection.

Despite the declining rate of rejection of Indian foods in the United States over the past decade, a 2022 study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture showed that Indian foods were still severely rejected due to pathogenic violations. Between 2002 and 2019, Indias foods were rejected in 5115 batches due to pathogenic and toxic violations, accounting for 22.9 percent of the total, while Mexico was ranked second with 13.9 percent.

Conclusion: Food safety remains a priority for major exporting countries such as India and Mexico, while importing countries such as the United States also need to strengthen food safety regulations to ensure consumer interests.