15 replies to this topic

[Simon]

I'm sure many of you will have heard about the 350 food products that have been inadvertently contaminated with an illegal dye that could lead to an increased risk of cancer. The dye, Sudan 1, was in a batch of chilli powder used by British tea and pickle maker Premier Foods to make a Worcester sauce that was subsequently used as an ingredient in a range of soups, sauces and ready meals.

Below is the information posted on the Food Standards Agency web site:

Food Standards Agency
Friday, 18 February 2005

The Food Standards Agency is today advising people not to eat foods that have been inadvertently contaminated with an illegal dye, Sudan I. This dye was in a batch of chilli powder used by Premier Foods to manufacture a Worcester sauce, which was then used as an ingredient in a wide range of products.

The Agency is working with the industry and local authorities to ensure that any remaining affected foods are removed from sale.

A list of affected foods is provided at www.food.gov.uk/sudanlist and will be updated as further information becomes available. If people have any of these foods at home they are advised not to eat them and to contact the store they bought them from for a refund.

Food Standards Agency Chief Executive Dr Jon Bell said: 'Sudan I could contribute to an increased risk of cancer.

'However, at the levels present the risk is likely to be very small but it is sensible to avoid eating any more. There is no risk of immediate ill health.

The Agency is working with the industry to ensure that any remaining affected products are speedily removed.

Because of the widespread use of this Worcester sauce to flavour other foods, we may find further affected products. We will continue to take action to remove these and minimise the risk to consumers.'

The foods, including soups, sauces and ready meals, have been distributed widely. At least 350 food products are currently known to be affected.

The companies whose products are listed are co-operating with the Agency to ensure the products are withdrawn.

Sudan I is a dye that should not be added to food and is banned in the UK and across the EU. Since July 2003 all chilli powder imported into the UK has to be certified free of Sudan I.

The FSA and local authorities randomly sample more than 1,000 consignments a year of imported chilli products.

However, this batch predates this sampling programme and was uncovered after sampling of Worcester sauce produced by Premier Foods and exported to Italy.

[yorkshire]

It seems strange that this is just coming to light now. I have been receiving updates on Sudan 1 recalls for the last 2 years from the FSA.

[Simon]

It seems strange that this is just coming to light now. I have been receiving updates on Sudan 1 recalls for the last 2 years from the FSA.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

On product recalls?

It's amazing the press coverage this one got; front page in most of the papers I saw and covered by all the main TV news. Some major brands got a serious bashing with the exposure.

On my local radio station you would have thought the Martians had just landed - the commentary was shall we say far from measured.

'Food dye gives you cancer - before you do anything check your cupboards now! - or you might die!'

I'm sure the increased risks of cancer from consuming Sudan 1 would either have to be a very large quantity in a short space of time, or more likely in the quantities found in food over a very long period of time. We've probably all been eating the stuff for years.

I don't want to make light of it because it is serious.

Does anyone know the facts of how it happened? I know the breach was first identified in Italy - I wonder if MR Z knows anything about it.

Regards,
Simon

[Franco]

Does anyone know the facts of how it happened?  I know the breach was first identified in Italy - I wonder if MR Z knows anything about it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Up to my best knowledge SUDAN I was identified in canned soup manufactured by a major italian company , don't know exactly when, why and where.
Informations are coming from our Intelligence because no official report was given from local authorities and I can tell you I've been very lucky because a friend of mine is into logistics and was directly involved in the recall. So forget everything please.

[yorkshire]

Dear All,

Here is a link to the FAS website with frequently asked questions on Sudan 1.

FSA Sudan 1 Q&A

This was published in July 2003 and its interesting to see that the action taken hasn't really hit home.

[yorkshire]

It would be interesting for anyone involved in the use of Chilli powder on how they monitor / show due diligence for this problem.

[yorkshire]

Here is the text of a Sunday Times article from yesterday:


BRITAIN'S supermarkets and food manufacturers face multimillion-pound fines this weekend after the Food Standards Agency (FSA) launched an investigation into the health scare caused by a cancer-causing dye.
More than 350 popular food products, including certain flavours of Walkers crisps, Pot Noodle and McDonald's low-fat caesar dressing, have been withdrawn from sale in Britain amid concerns they may contain traces of Sudan 1, a carcinogenic dye illegally added to chilli powder.

FSA officials are furious that the additive has been allowed to enter the food chain. They believe food companies and supermarkets should have conducted more rigorous tests after an alert over the dye in 2003.
Sources at the FSA confirmed yesterday that charges could be brought against companies and their directors for 'selling food injurious to health'. Under food safety laws, the companies involved could face unlimited fines.
However, critics of the watchdog said yesterday it was talking tough too late. One said the organisation had been warned by its experts more than a year ago to step up its policing of Sudan 1 but had failed to do so.
Chris Grayling, Conservative health spokesman, said: 'I am genuinely quite worried that the FSA seems to have acted very slowly. It was set up as a food safety body but has been trying to reinvent itself as a much more broad-ranging public health education creature . . . I would ask: has this organisation become too big, too bureaucratic, too ill-focused to do its job?' Medical experts emphasised that the risk to human health is low from the contaminated meals. Supermarkets, food suppliers and safety inspectors, however, face serious questions on how a known carcinogen was allowed to taint the food supply for at least four months.
Sudan 1 is derived from coal tar and used for colouring shoe polish and floor wax. There has been concern over its risk to human health for decades and it was banned in food use in America in 1918.
European Union regulations banned Sudan 1 as a food dye in 1995. Eight years later the FSA issued an alert over 200 products after French officials discovered the dye was being used in some foods.
The cause of the new alert is believed to originate from India and a 5-ton batch of red chilli powder imported into the UK in 2002. Chillis often turn brown when they are stored and the suppliers had laced the powder with Sudan 1 to enrich the natural colour.
While health alerts were being issued across Europe about adulterated batches of Indian chilli powder, the British consignment was being sold for use in some of the country's most popular foods.
Last September Premier Foods, one of Britain's leading food manufacturers, started to use the powder for its Crosse & Blackwell Worcester sauce. It refused to comment this weekend on whether it conducted tests for Sudan 1.
The popular sauce — now laced with a known carcinogen — was soon being added to some of the UK's best-known foods. From Waitrose Tuscan Bean Soup to Asda's Bangers & Mash, the adulterated products were placed on sale in supermarkets and food outlets across the country.
The system of food safety tests conducted by trading standards officers, supermarkets and the FSA failed to detect the banned substance. The supermarkets claimed yesterday that the dye may have been in such low concentration that their tests did not pick it up. Trading standards officers said they conducted very few tests because of limited resources.
Other countries were more rigorous in their checks. On February 7, Premier was warned its Worcester sauce was contaminated after tests on the product in Italy. It immediately told the FSA and three days later tests in this country confirmed the UK product was also contaminated with Sudan 1.
By this time, the FSA was aware of only five products that needed to be recalled, but asked the company for a full list of affected customers. As Premier checked its customer data, the scale of the health crisis became apparent. Hundreds of products were contaminated and every big supermarket in the country had been hit. Hundreds of other smaller stores and restaurants were also likely to be effected.
A huge public relations disaster was about to unfold. Last weekend Premier executives were in crisis meetings with supermarket bosses and big food suppliers to agree a strategy to deal with the alert.



No immediate warning was issued because the risk to human health was considered to be relatively low.
By Monday the FSA had obtained a list of the 200 companies that had been using the sauce. By Thursday evening officials established that more than 350 products needed to be recalled and the next day issued the public health alert.
An FSA spokesman said: 'We wanted to ensure we had accurate information before we made an announcement. We did not feel there was an acute health risk.'

[Simon]

Thanks for that Yorky the Times piece has some really interesting facts.

There has been concern over its risk to human health for decades and it was banned in food use in America in 1918.  European Union regulations banned Sudan 1 as a food dye in 1995.

Bit of a time lag don't you think?

As the risk to human health from this scare is considered to be relatively low maybe we can take some positives from it. Once the FSA stopped sitting on their hands it has been impressive to see a massive and complicated product recall in full swing - it shows again just how important traceability is. The communication has also been pretty tremendous - even my Mums talking about it. I'm sure heads have and will roll and who knows this may herald the return of the retailer food safety auditor - Yippee! Whatever it's certainly brought food safety to the fore - big time!

I just visited the Premier Foods web site and as you would expect they're keeping it very low-key on there with just a short press release:

http://www.premierfo...ester-sauce.cfm

I feel a bit sorry for them, after all there were many failures in the long and winding chain to the consumer.

Where do you think the buck stops on this one?

Regards,
Simon

[Simon]

Contamination of Worcester sauce by the unauthorised colour Sudan I background information, press release and Commission Decisions.

Europa Food Safety

Regards,
Simon

[Charles Chew]

This one is HUGE

I have been staying away FOR A LONG TIME NOW from "indian foods" especially Tikkas where Sudan Red is definitely used to give it the bright red colour. But now the issue is made worse when "dark coloured sauces" are found to contain Sudan 1 dye and that means a whole lot of items of there has been MASKED............and nobody exactly knows the level of contamination from a non-permitted colouring agent.

Regulatory authorities can only do so much. IMO since general consumers are aware of the Sudan Red issue - a major boycott of products, companies, restaurants etc and ready to serve meals would certainly make all INTERESTED PARTIES be weary that customers do have POWER to "KILL" too.

Consumer Associations and Government / Food Safety Watch Dogs do have a role to play right now.............and the best agent of information apart of SaferPak is the media of course.

Charles Chew

[Simon]

A footnote to the Sudan I incident:

Some EU food processors may still use the forbidden dye ‘Sudan I', warns Commissioner Kyprianou

[SAM]

Somebody from a non-food background sent me this as a joke, but thought it was strangely true!!

Customer: Worcester sauce crisps please

Shopkeeper: Sorry can't, it's off the shelves, cancer scare.

Customer: Oh right, Chinese Chicken Wings?

Shopkeeper: Ah that's the same , Cancer scare

Customer: Hamburger Relish?

Shopkeeper: Cancer scare

Customer: Sausage and Mash?

Shopkeeper: Cancer scare

Customer: Cottage Pie?

Shopkeeper: Yes, ...no wait, Cancer scare.

Customer: So they're all off the shelves because of a Cancer scare?

Shopkeeper: Yes

Customer: (sigh) Just give me a packet of fags then.

Shopkeeper: Certainly. £4.50 please.

Customer: Thanks


Nadine

[yorkshire]

[Simon]

Very funny Nadine, it would be hilarious if it wasn't so true. One thing I've not smoked that...cottage pie.

Regards,
Simon

[yorkshire]

Just to update you all that controls now have to be in place for Palm Oil and Curcumin (E100). See EU release:

Sudan 1

[Simon]

Thanks for bringing the thread back on track Yorky.

Simon