Black Pepper Powder

Ground pepper is where adulteration is most common in this trade: papaya seed and pepper husk both mill down to something that passes a visual check. Piperine content is the figure that does not lie, and we report it per lot.

What to fix on the specification

• Mesh: 40–60 standard, or your figure.
• Piperine: minimum, by a stated method. This is the number adulteration cannot fake.
• Total ash and acid-insoluble ash: the test for added mineral matter.
• Moisture: on the packed lot.
• Light filth and starch: where the destination requires it.

Ground pepper is among the easier spices to adulterate convincingly, because papaya seed and pepper husk both mill down to something that passes a visual check. Laboratory testing reports piperine per lot for exactly that reason.