Cinnamon adulteration: Food safety dept ups vigil

Thiruvananthapuram: In view of reports that adulterated cinnamon is being sold widely in the markets across the district, the food safety department has conducted inspections at major supermarkets and retail outlets.
Cinnamon is adulterated using cassia, which is imported from China at a cheaper price and is toxic to the human body if consumed above a prescribed limit.
The food safety officers have collected samples of cinnamon from over ten outlets in the last couple of days and sent for testing at its lab.
Original cinnamon costs Rs 1,300 per kg in the market, whereas the adulterated cinnamon mixed with cassia is available for Rs 250 to 400. Since cassia is very cheap, it is often being sold as cinnamon in the market or used as a cheap substitute by traders.
As per the guidelines of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the maximum permissible limit of coumarin content should not be more than 0.3% by weight. However, cassia contains coumarin content in the range of 0.8 to 10.63%. Whereas, cinnamon varieties have coumarin content at around 0.2%.
“Cassia is usually cheaper in cost than cinnamon and hence is used for adulterating cinnamon. It is often mislabelled and sold as cinnamon. Consumers can easily distinguish cinnamon and cassia by their physical appearance. The layer of the bark of cassia is relatively thick and is rolled into the stick whereas cinnamon layers are relatively thin, and it looks like cigarettes,” said an officer of the food safety department.