Hopefully the turmeric she takes is safe :(
https://www.oekotest.de/essen-trinken/Kurkuma-Labor-findet-M...
Please inform this to her.
It makes me think small-scale sales of spices, compounds, and ingredients on Amazon are at risk for adulteration.
Perhaps what we need is a simplified bluetooth mass spectrometer device with an app setup for testing purity of powdered substances from foods to medications. This seems like a ready-made Kickstarter project an Ivy/Pac-12 engineering bio+ee team could handle. MEMS devices using cheap IR photonics are in the pipe (no pun intended). Gas chrom is like listening to music on vinyl.
It actually tastes better that way, richer and more earthy.
It does leave your fingers stained, but that is actually a benefit since it is a conversation starter.
https://www.americanturmeric.com/how-we-test-our-turmeric ("Laboratory Results - Buy With Confidence")
https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-laboratory-image24729... ("Royalty-Free Stock Photo: Laboratory with many operated science instrument [sic] and computer")
I have no affiliation here, but they even listed the company they used for testing so presumably you could call/email them if you want further confirmation. None of this seems unreasonable to me, and I don't think a stock photo is a gotcha for product quality.
Where do you expect stock photography to be used? Only in mock-ups and design pitches?
As if something's existence alone justifies its (mis)use...
I'm reminded of the Invader Zim Hamstergeddon episode when the tanks arrive and one of the soldiers shouts "We've gotta use this stuff on something!"
Posting a stock photo is trying to defraud buyers who expect to see the factory it is made in.
I don't think any picture of a lab would have any meaning to me, whatsoever. Is the product legit tested? That's all that matters. I don't care what the lab looks like.
Well, uh, I'm no expert, having just read about this here, today. But what you are saying flies in the face of half of the comments here, doesn't it? What makes you sure that the "local Indian grocery store" is getting high-quality, tested spices?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5415259/
The product recalls mentioned are all American brands, and their origin is unspecified - other than South Asia, turmeric is also exported from China, SE Asia, the Caribbean and South America. In the absence of FDA guidelines on lead levels in spices, this study has used the lead levels in candy as the threshold (0.1 ppm) The study also highlights a previous case study in Boston where 4 pediatric cases had lead exposure - of the 4, only one had detectable lead in the family's turmeric - at a level of 1.4 ppm. This was a 12-month-old baby, so wasn't consuming the turmeric, and the case study doesn't suggest he was.
The Indian food safety standards restrict lead in spices to below 2.5 ppm, with turmeric especially tested for lead chromate (FSSAI standards allow lead upto 10 ppm (!!!) in turmeric, while AGMARK allows only upto 2.5 ppm). Turmeric being exported from India to the USA has several additional mandatory certifications required, for other dyes like Sudan I - IV, aflatoxins, pesticides, etc. Since the FDA has no limits published on lead, the Indian limits of 2.5 ppm probably apply. Is that an acceptable level? Probably not great, and there is no safe level of lead. However, lead will show up in any agricultural product, so we need a reasonable 'acceptable' range. For me and most other Indians who consume turmeric on a daily basis, we defer to the Indian certifications.
Looking at my own pantry of Indian branded spices I purchased from Indian grocery stores, I see they are packaged in the UAE and not India, and don't carry the AGMARK. I couldn't find any details on the certifications required for spices in the Emirates.