The American Spice Trade Association (ASTA) is an American

trade association A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific Industry (economics), industry. Through collabor ...

for companies importing, processing and distributing food

spice In the culinary arts, a spice is any seed, fruit, root, Bark (botany), bark, or other plant substance in a form primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of pl ...

s. It was founded in New York City in 1907 by 55 "founding fathers". It was decided that ASTA membership would be available to spice importers, dealers, agents, manufacturers and brokers, with each firm to have a single vote. Today, the ASTA claims 175 member companies.

Technical standard A technical standard is an established Social norm, norm or requirement for a repeatable technical task which is applied to a common and repeated use of rules, conditions, guidelines or characteristics for products or related processes and producti ...

s developed by the association are used by some spice-importing countries to regulate the cleanliness and other properties of imported spices.Kenji Hirasa, Mitsuo Takemasa, ''Spice Science and Technology''CRC Press, 1998, {{ISBN, 0585367558, pp. 29-31 ASTA performs functions of business advocacy, marketing information, technical and safety standards development, and input to governments on laws and regulations.

References

External links

ASTA Web site
Trade associations based in the United States Organizations established in 1907 1907 establishments in New York City