Deepak Pahwa – Chairman, Pahwa Group & Managing Director, Bry-Air
Spices are a key ingredient when it comes to culinary delight. They are used as seasoning for adding flavour and aroma to food. Where it enriches the taste of food, it is also loaded with antioxidant properties that are beneficial for health at the same time. The importance of spices can be clearly understood from the fact that India stands out as the largest producer of spices in the world. It drives the production of 75 out of 109 varieties that are registered in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
Exporting spices to approximately 200 countries across the world, as recorded in December 2024, the country clocked an export worth US$ 3.36 billion as per the IBEF report. With China, the USA, the UAE, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, the UK, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and Germany being the top export destinations and to fulfill the domestic demand at the same time, the spice production amounted to 12 million metric tons in 2024.
With such massive production, preserving the taste and aroma of spices becomes an indispensable requirement to avoid any loss due to revocation on account of substandard quality. Spices have a huge affinity for moisture, which is capable of altering their colour, flavour and fragrance, impacting the taste of food. It raises a lot of hygiene and safety issues, where excessive humidity has an adverse effect on the entire processing, packaging, and storage of spices. The repercussion is not just limited to deterioration of product but also poses a significant health hazard for consumers. Moisture is a major threat to spices, as it provides a conducive environment for microorganisms, mold, yeast, and bacteria to thrive. Moreover, the fungal growth causes contamination, ultimately making the entire food unsafe for consumption.
Along with this, the issue of loss of freshness, slow and uneven drying remains a persistent issue, plaguing the spices throughout their cycle. Being hygroscopic in nature, spices are susceptible to undergoing agglomeration in the presence of excess humidity, and processing them without mitigating the moisture increases the chances of lumping, caking, and cluster formation in them. Huge masses of spices undergo processing, where the absorbed moisture defies free flow from one process to another. They even clog the machines, increasing the chances of spoiling the remaining batches as well. This can take a toll on the company, incurring huge loss on account of contaminated and substandard product, resulting in the rescinding of spices from the market.
Therefore, with moisture being a constant threat to the spices, it is only advisable to curb its menace by installing desiccant dehumidifiers to monitor the environment and maintain it within acceptable limits. It comes with the proficiency to regulate the humidity and temperature across the processing facility all round the year, regardless of the weather conditions outside. By achieving the optimal humidity levels, the technology minimizes the risk of stocks getting spoiled, offering the most efficient, versatile, and cost-effective solution for spice processing with minimal manual intervention. It aids in prolonging the shelf life of spices by retaining their freshness for a very long period of time.
Installing Compact Desiccant Dehumidifier FFB Series comes with a lot of advantage in terms of being lightweight and cost-effective. It is the “Little Giant of Industrial Dehumidification” that comes in handy for integrating small footprint and finish of a commercial unit with the ruggedness” of an industrial dehumidifier.
Similarly, deploying Seed Dryers, popularly known as Tray Dryers perform the drying and preservation of seeds, food products and spices while keeping intact the quality of the products. It defers seed ageing and death by controlling temperature and relative humidity for driving its long survival.
Altogether, dehumidifiers come to the rescue in minimizing the instances of spice rejection and also address the issue of malfunctioning, inconsistent operations, condensation problems, and mould or fungal growth at the time of processing. It is much required by the industry for keeping the colour, flavour and aroma of spices intact, which significantly prevents wastage of products and even drives the growth of industry across the globe.