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The Great Worcestershire Sauce Scandal
The biggest food recall in UK history is taking place, and it's all because of a colouring called Sudan red dye - found in chillis, paprika and curries imported from India and used in processed foods. (Updated 07/03/2005)
Published 03/03/2005
Just when the Poms show signs of developing a cosmopolitan palate, disaster strikes!
The biggest food recall in UK history is taking place, and it's all because of a colouring agent in exotic spices and flavourings. The colouring is called Sudan red dye and it's best known as an industrial dye to colour solvents, oils, waxes, petrol, and shoe and floor polish. But it can also be used to colour chilli, paprika, curry and chutney and is commonly used this way in India, Pakistan and other parts of Asia.
The problem is, in laboratory animals, the dye has been shown to cause cancer. There's no evidence that it does in humans (though definitive evidence is lacking), but to be on the safe side, since 2003 foodstuffs containing the dye have been banned in the UK and Europe (and elsewhere in Western countries, including Australia). All food imports have to be certified free of the dye.
However, last month in a random inspection, a consignment of a brand of Worcestershire sauce on sale in the UK (Crosse and Blackwell Worcestershire Sauce, made by Premier Foods) was found to contain chilli powder contaminated with the dye. The UK food regulator, the Food Standards Agency, promptly recalled the brand.
The trouble is that Worcestershire sauce is in turn used by other food companies to add flavour to a vast range of ready meals, sauces, salad dressings and fast foods. All in all the FSA has had to recall about 474 food products - the largest food recall in the UK's history.
There have also been recalls and consumer warnings in 12 European countries and in Canada, where many of these foods are imported from the UK.
And in Australia?
The national food regulatory authority, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), has found that one of the products recalled in the UK, 'Walkers Worcester Sauce Flavoured Crisps', is available in Australia in British specialty food stores. FSANZ says retailers have voluntarily taken this product off their shelves.
Apart from this, the authority believes that Australians are safe.
For a start, because the amounts of the dye in these products is so small, and because the link to cancer in humans hasn't been proven, the overall risk to health is small, says FSANZ.
FSANZ did a survey in March 2004 to determine if Sudan red dye was present in chilli and paprika powders available for sale in Australia. It looked at chilli and paprika powders imported from India and other Asian countries - those most likely to contain the dyes. It collected 56 samples throughout Australia, and found no Sudan red dye in any of them.
Most of the products recalled in the UK were fresh or chilled, with a short shelf life, and not suitable for import. The big food companies say they make similar food products here, but they use local ingredients.
The FSANZ says it's working with the States and Territories to find out if small specialty shops are carrying any other products on the British list, and if any more are discovered, a recall is likely.
Clear out the fridge?
So do you need to clear out the fridge? On balance, no. If the product is manufactured in Australia, it's almost certainly made with local ingredients and free of the dye.
If you think you might have an imported product, consult the FSA's list of recalled products (see the link at the end of this story). If you have one or more, throw them out.
Nor do you need to boycott the local Indian or Asian restaurant, because they'll almost certainly be using local products.
But if you're travelling to the UK in the coming months, you might notice a change of diet - be prepared for rice pudding and boiled cabbage.
Updated 07/03/2005
