‘Bhut Jolokia’ chilli now heads to London

Guwahati: “Bhoot Jolokia”, one of the hottest chillis in the world, was on Wednesday exported, for the first time, from Guwahati to London. Similar to Naga jolokia, Raja Mirchi, Naga Morich and King chilli, grown in Nagaland, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and Manipur, it was declared the hottest chilli pepper in the world by Guinness World Records in 2007.

Airports Authority of India officials said that the chilli was formally exported to London from the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati via an Air India flight.

AAIs Regional Executive Director Ravi Kant said that this occasion is special, because “Bhut Jolokia”, which has been conferred a GI tag for being the unique product of the northeast India, is getting exported from this region.

“We are very much enthusiastic that the cargo export potential from the airports in the northeast region would grow benefiting the local food producing organisations, specially the farmers. The AAI has developed standard facilities in air cargo complex for enabling export of NER produce to the domestic as well as international markets,” he said.

Plant Quarantine Station, Guwahati, Assistant Director, Vageesh Pandey said that he is very delighted to issue a Phytosanitary Certificate for “Bhut Jolokia”, which is going first time from Assam to the UK. “This certificate is globally acceptable for plant and plant products from our country to any foreign country. The certificates are issued by the Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine and storage, Plant Quarantine station, Guwahati,” he said.