Food Standards Australia New Zealand has banned the importation and sale of Moringa for food (tea, powder, leaves etc). It can still be sold as medicine in some cases. You can also still grow it in your backyard, which I do. Their stated reason for this is 'lack of information'.

https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/sites/default/files/2025-12/A1294%20Rejection%20report.pdf

Moringa has been eaten as a staple vegetable in South Asia and Africa for centuries. Pretty much all of it can be eaten, though some sites say to go easy on the flowers, especially if you are eating them raw or are pregnant, and I wouldn't eat the bark and roots. They are also very easy to grow. They are a tropical tree that can survive drought. They don't seem to have become a weed, but have the potential up in the tropics. You can propagate them by breaking off a branch and dropping it on the ground.

I use the leaves occasionally. I nibble on them when I am roaming the garden. They are a bit peppery. I use them like coriander to garnish pasta. And I throw them into curries etc whenever I am looking for leafy greens to add to my cooking. I haven't tried cooking the pods yet, but will get round to it one day.

From the link - I think you could say similar things about 1,000s of plants?   

It sounds like Govt over reach - too many public servants with nothing better to do. 


QUOTE:

In particular, the best available scientific evidence did not enable key safety
considerations such as the following to be adequately characterised:
− The identity and quantity of undesirable substances potentially present in
relevant parts of the Moringa oleifera plant.
− The potential for adverse effects in the short term or long term, such as
established by guideline-compliant toxicity studies in animals.
− The abortifacient effects of Moringa oleifera observed in animal studies for the
leaf and aqueous or ethanolic extracts of the leaf.
− Anecdotal reports of use of Moringa oleifera as a contraceptive and abortifacient
in humans.
− The potential genotoxicity of Moringa oleifera addressing all genotoxicity
endpoints, as demonstrated by appropriate studies conducted according to
relevant guidelines.
Given the above, FSANZ was unable to conclude that Moringa oleifera (leaves, immature
seed pods and oil) would not pose a safety concern if permitted as a food for retail sale or as
an ingredient or component in food for retail sale. FSANZ’s assessment was also that the
associated potential cost to consumer health of such a permission would outweigh its direct
and indirect benefits.

freediver wrote on Apr 27^th, 2026 at 11:55am:



Gee whiz- if you go to a herbal medicine shop there
are 100s of products that could be harmful -
concentrated extracts of so many different plants. 

The same poison risk could be levelled at cinnamon, which can be bought by the kilo in Australia.

The same for Ashwagandha...

And nutmeg...

And Oregano, Thyme, Turmeric and Cumin.