American Spice Trade Association

The American Spice Trade Association (ASTA) (4) accepts spice as any dried plant product used primarily for seasoning purposes. This broad definition was designed so that items labeled only as spice could give adequate protection to proprietary formulas for spice mixtures. However, ASTA recommends that the dehydrated vegetables and the color spices be listed separately by name on all labels. ASTA also has recommended that the capsicums, no matter the species, be delisted as spices and labeled separately. 

The American Spice Trade Association (ASTA), estabUshed by the industry, works with U.S. government organizations to set up specifications (9) for spice products that conform specificaHy to the laws, however generalized they are. 

FTstory of Spices, American Spice Trade Association Inc., New York, 1960. 

Official Analytical Methods of The American Spice Trade Association, 3rd ed., American Spice Trade Association, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1985. 

The American Spice Trade Association (ASTA) (12). adopted, in 196B, an official method (21.0) for pungency evaluation for capsicum, which appears to be an adaptation of procedures then in use by some flavour houses. These methods were probably developed as a routine quality control procedure, on samples obtained usually... 

Thus, the estimation of piperine (along with the minor amounts of piperettine and piperylin) obtained by a measure of the absorption at 342 nm of the extract has been shown to be reasonably accurate (Table VII), and predictiv/e of the real pungency of pepper samples for routine quality control. The estimation of the piper-ine by 342 nm absorption has been approv/ed by the Indian Standards Institution and by the American Spice Trade Association. The latter, however, still keep, as a recommended method, a colorimetric method which has been repeatedly shown to give very variable results. 

American Spice Trade Association, "Official Analytical Methods", 1968. 

Apart from competing for markets, developing country producers and exporters face many challenges, including that of quality issues. Spice exports are subject to strict quality standards for food safety set by the American Spice Trade Association (ASTA) and the European Spice Association (ESA). Demand is growing for high quality and processed spices. This trend for value-added products offers new business opportunities in the spice trade. 

ASTA (2001) Cleanliness Specifications Manual, Method 14.1. American Spice Trade Association, Washington DC, pp. 13-1713. 

Englewood Cliffs (1 958) Official Analytical Methods, Color Power of Turmeric, Method 1 8.0. American Spice Trade Association, Washington, DC. 

Quality requirements for various clove products is country specific. The American Spice Trade Association (ASTA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommendations for whole spice (clove) are illustrated in Table 8.10. 

ASTA (1985) Official Analytical Methods for Spices, 3rd edn. American Spices Trade Association, New York. 

American Spice Trade Association. 1995. Raw Cassia and Cinnamon Sampling and Testing, Technical Bulletin 950522. 

Most spices that are imported into the United States come in whole or unprocessed, There arc requirements that they meet minimum standards for purity and cleanliness The Food and Drug Administration performs inspections on the incoming spices mainly to confirm that they are free from undesirable filth and that they are safe for use in food. The American Spice Trade Association (I) and AOAC 2) have defined specific tests for spices, A complete list of typical tests for the quality of herbs and spices was developed a number of years ago by Heath (3), This provides a comprehensive listing of tests that can give information on the volatile oil content as well as other quality related factors in spices,... 

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