Manufacturers are facing a bill for millions of pounds as a result of what is believed to be the longest running packaged food scare in UK retail history.
More than 200 retail and foodservice lines have now been taken off shelves since a banned carcinogenic substance in chilli powder was first discovered in a host of Indian and Italian sauces last
September.
Products caught up in the scare have included Unilever’s Bertolli Pesto Rosso and top selling own label ranges from Sainsbury, Safeway and Asda.
Nando’s became the latest casualty this week when the Food Standards Agency added seven of its lines to the burgeoning list of affected products.
The scare centres on sauces made using chilli powder which is believed to contain the banned food dye Sudan 1. All of the offending powder is understood to have been sourced from three suppliers in India.
Each has since had its licence suspended by the Indian authorities pending further investigations.
A spokesman for the FSA said the crisis was the biggest ever in terms of the number of products affected and the “longest ongoing” recall operation that the agency had dealt with.
Many of the affected lines have yet to return to shelves, leaving a costly trail of lost sales as retailers scramble to change suppliers. Sainsbury has even erected shelf-edge signs apologising to its shoppers for the continued absence of popular offerings.
Allen Clark, Budgens senior buyer for ambient cooking sauces said: “Some manufacturers will have lost a lot of money. If they can’t supply, they get replaced.”
Mary Carmichael
More than 200 retail and foodservice lines have now been taken off shelves since a banned carcinogenic substance in chilli powder was first discovered in a host of Indian and Italian sauces last
September.
Products caught up in the scare have included Unilever’s Bertolli Pesto Rosso and top selling own label ranges from Sainsbury, Safeway and Asda.
Nando’s became the latest casualty this week when the Food Standards Agency added seven of its lines to the burgeoning list of affected products.
The scare centres on sauces made using chilli powder which is believed to contain the banned food dye Sudan 1. All of the offending powder is understood to have been sourced from three suppliers in India.
Each has since had its licence suspended by the Indian authorities pending further investigations.
A spokesman for the FSA said the crisis was the biggest ever in terms of the number of products affected and the “longest ongoing” recall operation that the agency had dealt with.
Many of the affected lines have yet to return to shelves, leaving a costly trail of lost sales as retailers scramble to change suppliers. Sainsbury has even erected shelf-edge signs apologising to its shoppers for the continued absence of popular offerings.
Allen Clark, Budgens senior buyer for ambient cooking sauces said: “Some manufacturers will have lost a lot of money. If they can’t supply, they get replaced.”
Mary Carmichael
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