Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Chemical pollution · India · 2020–2021

Ethylene oxide in Indian sesame (EU recalls)

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 3 none on record · 4 insufficient · 1 not measured See the gaps

Sesame seed exported from India was found to have been treated with ethylene oxide, a fumigant, and was recalled in Europe from 2020. The sources reviewed give few verified details.

477RASFF notifications on Indian sesame by January 2021
As reported by Food Safety News; not independently verified.

Status As of October 2026 the sources reviewed hold one press report from February 2021 and no later record.

What?
Sesame seed from India was reported to contain ethylene oxide, a fumigant, and was recalled in Europe. Food Safety News
Where?
India (origin); recalls in Europe. Food Safety News
When?
From 2020; recalls continuing in February 2021. Food Safety News
Who?
Gained
None on record
Lost
None on record
Harmed
None on record
Why?
The sources reviewed do not state why the seed was fumigated with ethylene oxide.
How?
The sources reviewed do not describe how the contamination was detected beyond the RASFF notifications.
5 of 6 questions answered from the record · open: who

What happened

The record, in order.

Food Safety News reported in February 2021 that recalls of contaminated sesame seed were continuing in Europe. The contaminant was ethylene oxide, a fumigant. The seed came from India.

The reporting counted notifications in RASFF, the European Union's rapid alert system for food and feed, and said that thousands of products had been recalled. The sources reviewed do not describe the legal limit applied, the testing method used or the recalled products by name.

  1. 2020Ethylene oxide residue in Indian sesame first reported in Europe (reported, not independently verified)
  2. 2021By January, 477 RASFF notifications and recalls of thousands of products (as reported by Food Safety News)

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

    Recorded

    • Food Safety News reported in February 2021 that contaminated sesame seed recalls were continuing in Europe.
      Food Safety News

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What nature saw

    Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

    Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

    RASFF notifications
    477
    By January 2021, as reported; not independently verified
    Ecological measurement
    None on record
    The sources reviewed record a food-safety residue, not an effect on land or water

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
    No court caseNo independent ecological evaluation

    Nature

    • Not measured Harm to nature: No independent ecological evaluation is on record.

    Court

    Figures

    • Insufficient Rasff notifications: Reported figure for Indian sesame; not independently verified.

    Record

    • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: sesame from India was fumigated with ethylene oxide, with first detection in Belgium in 2020.
    • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: 477 RASFF notifications by January 2021, with thousands of products recalled.
    • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: the practice was estimated to have been widespread for years.
    • None on record The sources reviewed do not state who carried out the fumigation, how many exporters were involved, or whether any exporter or authority was penalised.
    • None on record The sources reviewed do not state any response from Indian exporters or the Indian authorities.

    Did the harm stop?

    The sources reviewed do not say whether the fumigation stopped.

    Who paid?

    The sources reviewed do not say who bore the cost of the recalls.

    Sources

    Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

    Press and investigations

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