Sudan 1 scare reaches Canada
regulators in the UK has now touched Canada.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has warned the public not to consume Koon Yick Wah Kee Brand Chilli Oil and Giant Tree Brand Chilli Oil that is sold in a set with Giant Tree Sichuan Preserved Hot Bean Curd With Sesame Oil as these products may contain the non-permitted colour, Sudan I, which is considered to be carcinogenic.
The importer, Le Kiu Importing, who is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, has voluntarily recalled these products from the marketplace, according to the CFIA.
The affected products are known to have been distributed since April 2004 in Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia, and may have also been distributed in Ontario.
Sudan I, a red dye, is not permitted as a food color in Canada.
Over 600 well known processed foods were pulled from the supermarket shelves in the UK after the Food Standards Agency (FSA) detected the illegal dye in a batch of worcester sauce made by St.Albans-based Premier Foods.
Supplying both retail and industrial ingredient markets, Premier Foods identified 340 customers from their database who may have been supplied with the contaminated worcester sauce.
Officials in Brussels earlier this week voted to extend test controls for the illegal red dye sudan 1 meaning that costs will rise for food makers using spice and oil.
Europe's Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health (CCFAC) endorsed a Commission proposal to add curcuma (turmeric) and virgin palm oil to the list of food products which must be certified as free of sudan dyes (sudan I, II, III and Scarlet Red/Sudan IV), in order to gain entry into the EU.
Two recent incidents of turmeric contamination and 97 cases of sudan-contaminated palm oil for sale on the European food market prompted the Commission to call for tighter controls for both these foodstuffs.
Once details of the measures are cleared, the tighter rules mean that imports of both these foodstuffs must be accompanied by certificates to prove they are free of the carcinogenic sudan red food dye. Such certificates are currently required for all imports of chilli and chilli powder products into Europe.
"Recent events over sudan 1 in the UK led the Commission to look again at the threat it poses to the food chain," a spokesperson said on Tuesday, referring to the UK's largest food product recall in history that centred around the sudan 1 scare.
