This article by Jess Halliday, dated 10-Apr-2009 was published on Food Navigator.com and should be noted after the Sudan Red recall in 2005. She writes:
"The presence of banned colouring methyl yellow in food spices in Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Germany has led to a slate of recalls; although not affecting finished foods for now, the issue is reminiscent of the Sudan Red recalls of 2005.
On April 1 the Belgian food safety authority AFSCA/FAVV said it had been notified that the banned colour had been detected in routine checks made by companies on curry powder imported by a Belgian company from India.
Consequently, the authority decided to recall all contaminated curry, curry pastes, and curry-based spice mixes from the importer. All batches of curry in which the colour has been detected are to be destroyed, and all spice mixes in which curry from the contaminated batches has been used unless they test negative to methyl yellow (below 15 ppb).
Although the methyl yellow issue appears relatively contained and, so far, no finished products have been recalled from shelves, the issue is reminiscent of the Sudan Red recall of 2005, when the carcinogenic dye was detected in a Worcester sauce product produced by UK company Premier Foods."
To read the rest of the paper, go to:
http://www.foodnavigator.com/Product-Categories/Food-safety-and-labelling/Illegal-yellow-prompts-spate-of-spice-recalls
cmbblignaut@ewklibrary.com
