Hundreds of products will have been tested for illegal food dye Para Red by this weekend as retailers and manufacturers rushed to analyse items for the cancer-causing chemical.
Experts are warning that the latest scare is likely to be the latest of many, while laboratories are being bombarded with requests for emergency testing.
The Grocer has also learned that a list of previously untested outlawed substances is circulating around the industry amid fears that manufacturers are facing a fight against time.
Nick Bird, the head of chromatography at Campden & Chorleywood Food Research Association, expected to have carried out more than 500 tests for Para Red by today (Saturday). Illegal dyes Rhodamine B and Orange II were also found this week in products in Germany, from chilli powder imported
from Vietnam. “There are thought to be more illegal dyes around, but people are getting the names wrong,” added Bird. “Rhodamine B was first incorrectly called Rhodamine G. Now there’s talk of Orange G, Red B, Red 7B, but we don’t even know which are dyes.”
The Para Red scare emerged two weeks ago when it was found in Old El Paso’s Enchiladas and Burritos dinner kits. That week, product recalls were extended to Bart Spices’ Ground Paprika, Co-op own-label Ground Paprika and Tesco’s barbecue-flavoured rice cakes, also found to contain Sudan 1.
The source of the paprika supply has been traced back to Spanish supplier Ramon Sabater, with the original batch believed to have come from Uzbekistan.
Bart Spices MD Gene Joyner said he had been assured by Ramon Sabater that his supply was not contaminated. “We carried out checks anyway, which revealed Para Red.”
Meanwhile, Leatherhead International Food deputy director Tony Hines warned there was a real risk that ingredients contaminated with illegal dye could make it back into the food chain. The FSA said local authorities were responsible for ensuring batches were destroyed in the UK.
Experts are warning that the latest scare is likely to be the latest of many, while laboratories are being bombarded with requests for emergency testing.
The Grocer has also learned that a list of previously untested outlawed substances is circulating around the industry amid fears that manufacturers are facing a fight against time.
Nick Bird, the head of chromatography at Campden & Chorleywood Food Research Association, expected to have carried out more than 500 tests for Para Red by today (Saturday). Illegal dyes Rhodamine B and Orange II were also found this week in products in Germany, from chilli powder imported
from Vietnam. “There are thought to be more illegal dyes around, but people are getting the names wrong,” added Bird. “Rhodamine B was first incorrectly called Rhodamine G. Now there’s talk of Orange G, Red B, Red 7B, but we don’t even know which are dyes.”
The Para Red scare emerged two weeks ago when it was found in Old El Paso’s Enchiladas and Burritos dinner kits. That week, product recalls were extended to Bart Spices’ Ground Paprika, Co-op own-label Ground Paprika and Tesco’s barbecue-flavoured rice cakes, also found to contain Sudan 1.
The source of the paprika supply has been traced back to Spanish supplier Ramon Sabater, with the original batch believed to have come from Uzbekistan.
Bart Spices MD Gene Joyner said he had been assured by Ramon Sabater that his supply was not contaminated. “We carried out checks anyway, which revealed Para Red.”
Meanwhile, Leatherhead International Food deputy director Tony Hines warned there was a real risk that ingredients contaminated with illegal dye could make it back into the food chain. The FSA said local authorities were responsible for ensuring batches were destroyed in the UK.
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