ETO-free: how our spices clear EU & US borders

Ethylene oxide (ETO) is a gas used to sterilise spices and kill microbes. It's effective and cheap — and it's also why a steady stream of spice shipments are turned away at EU and US borders every year, because ETO and its residues are tightly restricted as a health risk.

We don't use it. Instead, every lot is cleaned with steam sterilisation: high-temperature steam that brings the microbial load within safe limits without leaving a chemical residue, and without the scorched, flattened aroma that harsher treatments cause.

Steam is only half the story. We also test each lot to EU and US thresholds for aflatoxin, Sudan dyes (an illegal colourant in chilli and turmeric), pesticide residues and heavy metals — and we keep the certificate. It's slower and it costs more, but it's the difference between a spice that's merely cheap and one you'd actually want in your food.

If a lot can't meet the limit cleanly, we don't sell it. That's the whole point of sourcing at origin: we can see the chain, and we can say no.