Para Red scare may show spice chain is too complex to police

Random testing and supplier certification are no longer enough to keep banned ingredients out of the spice chain, according to the company at the centre of the recent Para Red recall.

Jim Moseley, UK md for General Mills, which was forced to recall Old El Paso dinner kits after the banned colouring was detected, said: "The key problem is that the spices and seasonings supply chain is extremely complex and too long. The only way to tackle the problem is to shorten it."

Citing Premier Foods' experience with Sudan 1, Moseley said Premier had done everything it was supposed to, but that it was not commercially viable to "test every single batch of every single ingredient that you buy for every substance known to man"

Arwin van Laanen, md for Euroma, the Dutch ingredients firm that supplied the contaminated El Paso seasoning, said it only discovered the dye because it was being ultra-vigilant. "There is no legal requirement to test and certify products as being free of Para Red," he said.

The number of recalls is likely to escalate post-Sudan 1 as nervous processors ramp up testing, according to James Beaton, the md of the manufacturer Discovery.

"These things are coming out of the woodwork because companies have stepped up testing. We have got to stamp them out, but there should be a more balanced approach to recalls, which should be on the basis of genuine risk."

But independent food safety consultant Malcolm Kane said the time had come for the industry to stop using synthetic dyes altogether. He claimed it could dispense with synthetic dyes in 12 months "if there was the will to do it"