Britain's biggest product recall, after the detection of the illegal carcinogen red azo dye Sudan 1 in dry chilli used in Premier Foods' Worcester sauce, has probably been unnecessary, according to food safety experts.
"The costs of this are going to be phenomenal," claimed food safety consultant Dr Slim Dinsdale. "Not just for the recall, but for the loss of business -- and I'm not sure it is absolutely necessary."
"The Sudan 1 incident indicates how vulnerable brands can be," said Dr Erik Millstone, director of science and technology policy studies at the University of Sussex. "I think it's extremely unlikely that the events of the past few days have not done enormous damage to those brands."
The very low contamination in many own-label products containing the Worcester sauce -- believed to be well below the one part per million detection limit -- meant that the risk was too low to justify a huge recall, suggested Dinsdale. "On a risk assessment basis I would find that difficult to agree with ... from a safety point of view I'm not convinced," he said. "There is as real element of hysteria of over-reaction in this."
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said there was 80mg/kg of Sudan 1 in chilli powder and 3mg/kg in the Worcester sauce, but could not cite levels in the other products recalled. "Sudan 1 could contribute to an increased risk of cancer and it is not possible to identify a safe level or quantify the risk," said the FSA's chief executive Dr Jon Bell. "However, at the levels present in these food products the risk is likely to be very small."
Dinsdale, one of 16 new fellows of the Institute of Food Science & Technology, cited aflatoxins naturally occurring in peanut butter as potentially more dangerous. "Most foods have quite potent poisons in them -- but nobody eats enough of them," he added.
At least 575 products have been recalled, with the number rising.