The risk assessment indicates that there is an excess cancer risk for NewZealand consumers of spices in the range of 0.8 in a million to 1.7 in a million as a conservative central estimate
and about 7 in a million to 14 in a million for a worst-case intake consumer. The risk to the average person would be less than these estimates due to the conservative assumption of no loss of ETO levels during cooking. The risk of not sterilising potentially contaminated spices is widely thought to be of greater priority for protection of public health. However, irradiation
sterilisation has been shown to be an effective alternative to ETO fumigation of spices