UK products recalled because of banned food dye

The presence of banned dye Para Red has been found in two products on supermarket shelves and has immediately prompted their withdrawal from the market.

The dye which may cause cancer, was found in paprika and rice cakes. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) says Para Red is chemically similar to Sudan I, a genotoxic carcinogen that in February was found to have contaminated a batch of Worcester Sauce, causing the recall of hundreds of products.

They say that though independent scientific experts have advised that despite very limited data available about Para Red, it would be sensible to assume that it could be a genotoxic carcinogen. The risk to people's health from Para Red is very small, but it is advising consumers not to eat a product containing the dye.

All Bart Spices jars of paprika have been withdrawn from supermarkets Waitrose and Somerfield, along with packs sold under the Co-op label, and Tesco has recalled batches of own-brand barbecue flavoured rice cakes, which contained Para Red and another banned dye which has caused alarm, Sudan I.

Contaminated Bart products were Bart Ground Paprika in 48g glass jars, batch codes 5032 and 5089, with best-before-end dates of December 2007, and Co-op ground paprika with batch code 5075 and best-before-end dates of February 2007.

Tesco has withdrawn all batches of its own brand 130g barbecue flavoured rice cakes with best-before-end dates of November and December 2005.

A spokeswoman for the FSA says the original alert came from the discovery of the Para Red in ingredients of El Paso products, and this latest alert is a follow-up from that and part of the agency's continuing investigations following the discovery of the dye last week in some batches of the seasoning mix in Old El Paso Dinner Kits.

The agency is working with the European Commission and individual EU member states to see if any other products may have been contaminated but says it is ultimately the legal responsibility of the company that sells a product to the public to ensure that the product is safe. Investigations have found that "Para Red has entered the UK from other un-named member states.