FSSAI's spice rules set numeric ceilings for moisture and ash, and floors for volatile oil or colour, under the Food Products Standards Regulations, 2011. Chilli powder must stay under 11% moisture and 8% total ash; turmeric under 11% moisture; coriander under 9%. A figure outside its band signals dilution or poor drying, once you know which number you are reading.
Last updated 30 September 2026.
- Moisture stops you paying spice prices for water, and keeps mould and aflatoxin risk down — FSSAI caps it at 9–11% depending on the spice.
- Total ash is the whole mineral residue left after burning the sample; acid-insoluble ash is the part of that residue that survives a dilute-acid wash — mostly sand and grit, so it is the sharper adulteration signal of the two.
- Volatile oil (coriander), curcuminoid content (turmeric) and colour value (chilli) measure genuine potency, not just cleanliness.
- One figure outside its band does not by itself prove adulteration — check which parameter, by how much, and against which spice's own limit.
- Our own published chilli report screens 221 pesticide residues on the chilli powder we sell. That is a different, equally important test — not a moisture or ash certificate.
What does FSSAI actually test for in a spice?
A spice lab report is not one document. FSSAI runs two separate rulebooks over the same jar of chilli powder, and a single report usually covers one of them, not both.
The first is the Food Products Standards — Regulation 2.9 of the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011. This is the "what is this spice, and is it genuine" checklist: moisture, total ash, acid-insoluble ash, volatile oil, colouring power, crude fibre, extraneous matter. It defines the physical and chemical identity of the product.
The second is the Contaminants, Toxins and Residues Regulations, 2011. This is the "what has got into this spice that should not be there" checklist: pesticide residues, heavy metals, aflatoxins. It says nothing about moisture or ash — a chilli powder can pass every pesticide screen and still be badly dried, or the reverse.
Knowing which rulebook a report is testing against is the first thing to check, before reading a single result.
FSSAI and BIS limits for chilli, turmeric and coriander powder, at a glance
Chilli and coriander figures are the Regulation 2.9 (Food Products Standards) quality standards. Turmeric's figures come from IS 3576:2010, the Bureau of Indian Standards specification that FSSAI's own Spices and Condiments test manual points to for turmeric methods, and which is aligned with the food-law requirements it was updated to match. Figures are on a dry-weight basis unless stated.
| Parameter | Chilli powder | Turmeric powder | Coriander powder |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moisture (max) | 11.0% | 11.0% | 9.0% |
| Total ash, dry basis (max) | 8.0% | 8.0% | 7.0% |
| Acid-insoluble ash, dry basis (max) | 1.3% | 1.5% | 1.5% |
| Other markers | Crude fibre max 30%; non-volatile ether extract min 12% | Curcuminoid content min 2.0%; total starch max 60% | Volatile oil min 0.09% v/w, dry basis |
Whole chilli and whole turmeric carry their own, separate limits — a slightly higher moisture ceiling for whole spice than for the ground powder is normal, not a red flag.
What does the moisture figure on a spice lab report mean?
FSSAI's own reference method distills the spice with an organic solvent (toluene) that does not mix with water, collects the water in a graduated trap, and reads the volume off directly — or, for smaller samples, titrates it out with the Karl Fischer method. Either way, the result is a straight percentage of the sample's weight that was water.
A high moisture reading matters for two reasons that have nothing to do with taste. First, water sold as spice is water you paid spice prices for. Second, spices above their moisture ceiling are far more prone to caking, mould growth and aflatoxin development in storage — moisture is the main lever that lets mould take hold in a sealed packet.
What do total ash and acid-insoluble ash actually measure?
Ashing burns off everything organic — the oils, the fibre, the colour — and weighs what is left. FSSAI's method ignites the sample in a muffle furnace at 550°C for three to four hours until only pale mineral residue remains. That residue, as a percentage of the original sample, is total ash: the natural mineral content of the plant tissue, plus anything mineral that got added along the way.
Acid-insoluble ash takes that same ash and boils it in dilute hydrochloric acid. A genuine spice's own minerals mostly dissolve. What is left after the acid wash — filtered, dried and reweighed — is overwhelmingly silica: sand, soil and grit. That is why acid-insoluble ash is the sharper of the two figures. A chilli powder can have unremarkable total ash and still fail on acid-insoluble ash if it was dried on bare ground or bulked with soapstone or brick powder, both of which are silicate-heavy.
Volatile oil and colour value: the numbers that measure potency
Colour value (chilli)
FSSAI's reference method for chilli colour (AOAC 971.26) extracts the sample in acetone in the dark for 16 hours, then reads its light absorbance at 460 nm on a spectrophotometer against a certified glass standard. The result converts to an ASTA colour unit — the same scale the American Spice Trade Association uses. It is not a subjective "how red does it look" call; it is a number. A chilli powder's colour value should come from the pigment already in the pod, not from an added dye, which is exactly why Regulation 2.9 also bans "extraneous colouring matter" in the same clause.
Volatile oil and curcumin
Coriander's flavour and aroma sit almost entirely in its volatile oil, steam-distilled off and measured by volume against the sample's dry weight. Turmeric's equivalent marker is curcuminoid content, read by absorbance at 425 nm against a standard curcumin solution. Both are floors, not ceilings: a coriander powder can pass its moisture and ash limits comfortably and still be a poor buy if the volatile oil has gone — usually because the stock is old, badly stored, or was never much good to start with.
What our own chilli lab report actually shows
We publish our test reports at /labreports, including a dedicated chilli powder lab report from Geo-Chem Laboratories Pvt Ltd (Test Report No. MISC/24/06/6191, dated 14 June 2024, NABL scope, sample lot 60) for the Premium Kashmiri Chilli Powder we sell. In the interest of describing it accurately rather than how a lab report post usually reads: it is a 221-parameter pesticide residue screen, checked against the Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Regulations, 2011 — not the Regulation 2.9 moisture, ash and colour panel this article has just walked through. Every one of the 221 pesticides tested came back "Not Detected" or below the FSSAI/Codex MRL.
Put plainly: this is the "what should not be in it" checklist, not the "what is it made of" checklist. Both matter. We have not yet published a moisture/ash/colour-value report alongside it, and we would rather say that clearly than let the pesticide screen imply more than it tests for.
How to read any spice lab report, step by step
- Find the sample description and lot number. This tells you exactly what was tested and when — a report is evidence about that batch, not every bag on the shelf.
- Check the accreditation line. A NABL scope and a ULR (Unique Lab Report) number mean the lab is government-recognised, not just a private opinion on letterhead.
- Identify which regulation the report is testing against. Contaminants, Toxins and Residues (pesticides, heavy metals, aflatoxins) and Food Products Standards (moisture, ash, volatile oil, colour) are two different documents, and most reports only cover one.
- Read the Result column against the LOQ and MRL columns, not the raw number alone. "0.031 mg/kg" means nothing on its own — it only means something next to the limit it is being measured against.
- Note the test method code. Each row should cite a specific IS, ISO, AOAC or FSSAI method, tying the result to a defined procedure rather than the lab's say-so.
- Check the date. Spices are agricultural produce from a specific harvest and a specific drying run; a year-old report says less about this week's stock than a recent one.
What a spice lab report can't tell you
A pesticide-residue pass does not confirm moisture or ash purity, and a clean moisture/ash panel says nothing about pesticide residues — you need both to get the full picture, and few sellers publish both for the same batch. A lab report is also evidence about the sample submitted; it is not a guarantee that follows a specific bag home, since spice is a natural product that varies batch to batch. And no kitchen test replicates a NABL lab's equipment — toluene distillation, muffle-furnace ashing and GC-MS pesticide screens all need lab apparatus a home cannot substitute for. Simple checks like the ones in our home adulteration tests for chilli, turmeric and coriander are useful first flags, not lab-equivalent results.
Where can I buy chilli powder that's actually been tested?
Our Premium Kashmiri Chilli Powder is the product behind the pesticide-residue report above — milled to order, with no added colour. If you want the fuller picture on choosing between chilli types, see Kashmiri vs Guntur vs Byadgi chilli: which to use when, and browse every published result on our lab reports page.
Frequently asked questions
What does "acid-insoluble ash" mean on a spice test report?
It is the mineral residue that survives both burning the sample and boiling the resulting ash in dilute hydrochloric acid. Since a spice's own natural minerals mostly dissolve in that acid wash, what remains is overwhelmingly sand and grit — making it a sharper adulteration signal than total ash alone.
Is a high total ash value always a sign of adulteration?
Not always. Total ash includes the spice's own natural mineral content, so it can run high from excess stalk, stem or unripe material as well as from added mineral matter. Acid-insoluble ash narrows this down, since it isolates the fraction that is mostly dirt rather than plant mineral.
Does FSSAI test every batch of spice sold in India?
No. FSSAI runs periodic surveillance and enforcement drives — a nationwide one covering chilli, turmeric, coriander and other spices ran through October 2025 — and sellers may commission their own batch-level lab reports, but there is no requirement that every bag be individually tested.
Why doesn't Miller Stores' chilli lab report show moisture or ash figures?
Because it is a different test panel. Our published chilli report screens 221 pesticide residues under the Contaminants, Toxins and Residues Regulations, 2011. Moisture, ash and colour value fall under a separate regulation (2.9, Food Products Standards) that we have not yet published a report against for this product.
What's the difference between an FSSAI limit and an ISO limit for a spice?
FSSAI limits are India's legal minimum under the Food Safety and Standards Regulations, and any spice sold in India must meet them. ISO standards (and BIS/Agmark grades) are voluntary quality specifications that can be stricter, looser or structured differently, and only apply when a seller chooses to certify against them.
Can I ask a spice seller for their lab report?
Yes, and a seller who tests their stock should be able to show you a report, even if informally. Check the sample description matches what you are buying, the date is reasonably recent, and the lab carries NABL accreditation for the parameters shown.
Sources
- Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). Manual of Methods of Analysis of Foods — Spices and Condiments (Lab Manual 10, 2015): moisture, total ash, acid-insoluble ash, volatile oil and chilli colour-value (AOAC 971.26) methods. fssai.gov.in
- NIFTEM-Kundli (National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Government of India), PM-FME scheme resource. FSSAI Quality Standards of Chilli / Chilli Powder — Regulation 2.9 limits for moisture, total ash, acid-insoluble ash, crude fibre and non-volatile ether extract. niftem.ac.in
- NIFTEM-Kundli, PM-FME scheme resource. FSSAI Regulations for Coriander Powder — Regulation 2.9.7.2 limits for moisture, volatile oil, total ash and acid-insoluble ash. niftem.ac.in
- Bureau of Indian Standards. IS 3576:2010 — Spices and Condiments: Turmeric, Whole and Ground — Specification (Third Revision), Table 1: moisture, total ash, acid-insoluble ash, curcumin content and starch limits for turmeric whole and powder. This is the standard FSSAI's own Spices and Condiments manual cites for turmeric test methods. law.resource.org
- FSSAI. Enforcement Drive on Spices (Whole & Powder) for the month of October, 2025, letter dated 17 September 2025, confirming chilli, turmeric and coriander powder standards fall under the Food Safety and Standards (Food Product Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011. fssai.gov.in
- Miller Stores chilli powder lab report, Geo-Chem Laboratories Pvt Ltd, Test Report No. MISC/24/06/6191, dated 14 June 2024. millerstores.com/labreports/chilli
Chilli and coriander figures are FSSAI Regulation 2.9 standards for the powder specifically; turmeric figures are from BIS IS 3576:2010, which FSSAI's own test manual references. Whole-spice and other spice-product standards differ. Lab reports are evidence about the batch tested, not a guarantee for every future purchase.