EU member states agree on food dye limits

The European Commission and food safety experts from the EU member states including Malta yesterday discussed and agreed on a common approach to tackling recent contaminations of spices and other foods by industrial dyes such as Para Red and dyes similar to Sudan 1.

Commission officials said that following the meeting, EU authorities have now set strict limits on a group of illegal dyes in food that may lead to an increased risk of cancer.

Any products containing higher amounts of the industrial colorings - the Sudan 1 and Para Red dyes - must be withdrawn from the market. Detection limits are set at between 0.5 and 1.0 milligrams per kilogram but the aim is to lower this level.

Sudan dyes are a group of four red dyes used for colouring solvents, oils, waxes, petrol and shoe and floor polishes. They have a carcinogenic effect and a potential risk of genotoxicity. Less research has been done on the chemically similar Para Red but this dye is also regarded as a cancer risk. The dyes tend to be found in spicy foods.

The Commission said that four member states - the UK, the Netherlands, France and Spain - agreed that their laboratories would work together to further develop analytical methods for Para Red and similar dyes for the benefit of all member states. They should be able to present the results within two weeks.

This development follows an alarm raised by the UK last February which saw major supermarket chains withdraw hundreds of spicy foods - chilli powders, ready-made meals, barbecue-flavored rice cakes - from their shelves.

The Commission said that the Europe-wide limit of detection is between 0.5 and 1.0 milligrams per kilogramme and anything above that has to be withdrawn from the market across the EU.

Member sates also agreed that if an EU member state had reason to think a particular food posed a risk to human health due to the presence of one of these dyes, they would be free to withdraw it from the market.

In February, the discovery of the Sudan 1 dye in a batch of chilli powder used by Premier Foods to make Worcester sauce led to Britain's biggest food recall. Malta also took measures to withdraw the product from the market as a precaution measure. All dye-food coming into Malta is being subjected to checks with samples being examined in foreign laboratories before granted permission to be released on the market.

The Commission said all member states agreed to continue to raise the awareness of the food industry about their responsibility and the Commission will transmit the analytical methods developed to non-EU countries.