the innocuous Worcestershire was added to more than 470 different types of food.

The problem is that many of the EU outlawed substances are still legally used elsewhere in the world. Nitrofurans were outlawed in the 90's, in 2002 prawns produced in the Far East contaminated with the antibiotic were found in Ireland. Sulphates have also been banned in Europe, but elsewhere they are widely used to preserve raw fruits and vegetables. Potassium bromate, which is found to cause cancer in animals, is  used as a flour 'improver' throughout the world but is banned in the UK. Chloramphenicol, used to protect honey from bacteria, has been shown to cause a life threatening blood disorder.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With these additives banned, and the profits from food production it is accepted that the food companies make safety testing a priority, the reality is very different. During 2003, food imports worth £21.1bn arrived in the UK, of the 310,506 food consignments received only 20,141 deliveries were checked at ports and airports.

The FSA admits it has no idea how many food samples are subjected to its own testing checks, conducted on its behalf by trading standards officers.

The cost, insurers estimate at more than £100m for all the food that has been destroyed.

With confidence build up since the BSE and GM incidents, Sudan 1 has asked serious questions of the international food chain, the question is not, if there will be another food crisis... its when.

Recent years has witnessed a ‘plough to the plate’ accountability, to many due diligence, hazard analysis have become a normal course of kitchen management system. We can guarantee that we can provide a system of safe foods, can we ?                                        Picture the scene, a few weeks ago in south-east Asia a fishmonger buys a haul of prawns. To ensure that the shellfish stay as fresh as possible, he adds some antibiotic nitrofurans to them. Some scientists are concerned that they could cause cancer, no local law prevents their use...people have to make a living.

Somewhere else, a beekeeper adds chloramphenicol to his honey to make it last longer. An antibiotic that is widely used in the west to treat eye infections. Scientists fear that it can cause blood disorders if it is ingested.

A spice trader adds $50 worth of Sudan 1 dye into a batch of chilli powder produced in his Indian factory. The chemical linked to cancer, adds the deep red colour that increases its market price by $500.

Then, by the phenomenon of international food production, these three contaminated ingredients make their way across the world into the same sealed pack of sweet and sour prawns. Purchased from a retail outlet down the local high street, placed into the microwave for dinner for the lecturer who is working tonight. Downing the flavoursome results, he is blissfully unaware of the extraordinary chain of events that produced dinner and the potential health risk that they pose.

Far fetched scenario, as the diary of events that has brought the Sudan 1 unfolds, experts believe that variations on this nightmare scenario are happening every day.

The illegal use of Sudan 1, sparked the biggest food scare since the BSE crisis. Sudan 1 use in chilli powder which in turn is used in the production of a sauce