Environmental and food safety of spices and herbs along global food chains

Spices and herbs, which are consumed in small quantities, but used in a wide range of foods and food products, represent a unique segment within the food sector. Moreover, being distributed as mostly in their dried, low water activity formats and associated with very complex distribution product chains, specific concerns as regards food safety apply to these particular commodities. To promote the capability of the food sector and the society to detect, respond to and prevent bio-threats, data generated from the EU FP7 project “Securing the spices and herbs commodity chains in Europe against deliberate, accidental or natural biological and chemical contamination” (SPICED) are presented thematically including: general considerations, issues of sampling, chemical and microbial contamination, and food chain and societal aspects.