Is this next for our food?
Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) — U.K. supermarkets including Tesco Plc and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s Asda, Britain’s two biggest grocers, say they’re unsure what the financial impact will be of recalling thousands of food items that may contain a cancer-causing dye.
The U.K. Food Standards Agency yesterday warned consumers against eating more than 350 products, including some pies, pizzas, casseroles and sandwiches, containing chili powder that may have been contaminated with an illegal dye known as Sudan 1.
“It’s too early to say what the costs are,” said Tesco spokeswoman Deborah Watson in a telephone interview from Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire, England. “Our first priority was to remove all the affected foods from sale.”
Sudan 1, which is used to color solvents, shoe polish and gasoline, is banned in foodstuffs sold within the European Union because it can contribute to an increased risk of cancer. The chemical was found in a batch of chili powder used by St. Albans, U.K.- based Premier Foods to manufacture a Worcester sauce.
This wouldn’t be so worrisome expect for the fact that in Dec. 2003 this crap got into the food suply once before. Ooops and here it is again in a batch of Khan foods. Oh, and wait. It looks like some Tandorri Masala was previously contaminated.
Here, if you really want an eye-full check out this list of food hazard alerts. Time after time contaminated spices, most all from India have been pouring into England.
The thing is I cannot believe that this stuff isn’t in the USA too. No reports I could find.
I live in Canada and a local news broadcast recently (last night? I was too tired to remember the date.) said that they weren’t sure whether it had reached North America yet but it may have.
I guess that the U.S. government doesn’t want to risk worrying people when it’s not been confirmed.
This sounds like more from the people who put the lead into gasoline. I wonder if the Unnatural Resources Council is going to report on this. I was eating some synthetic pizza sauce and it was very red and I thought it must be dyed. Thanks for the heads up John. You may be the first blog in the USA to run this story. Our news is all about the war, before that it was the impeachment. Food safety news gets buried alive. The new Bugs Bunny is the big US news story here. You might see black and red carrots next. Is Walmart recalling anything in the USA yet? This could just kill the Walmart stock value. People trust Walmart. I am not going to shop at Walmart. Saving a buck is one thing, this is another. Walmart could become Warmart, once consumers get this in their heads. I can see the headline coverups now. It will be called a internet rumor. Maybe the New York Times will do a big red headline for Walmart. Heinz had a ketchup ad out, that showed an empty bottle with a tagline about opera and the end. I hope Heinz didn’t start trying to make ketchup more red. I live in a blue state. I have some of the red kerosene in my lamp. Heartpower beats horsepower.
I live in the UK. Is the reason for the lack of interest in this in the USA because the use of this dye (SUDAN 1) is still allowed there? The tests that show that it is carcinogenic are pretty marginal so it might still be being used in foodstuffs there. Does anyone have any more information?