China says cancer-causing red dye Sudan I found in Heinz products
(AFP)
5 March 2005

BEIJING - China said Saturday that a cancer-causing agent at the
center of a European health scare has been found in edible products
made by a subsidiary of the American multinational food giant Heinz
Company.

The red dye Sudan I been found in a pepper sauce made by the Heinz
Meiweiyuan Food Co. based in Guangzhou, capital of southern China’s
Guangdong province, Xinhua news agency said.

Following the discovery, the State Administration for Quality
Supervision and Inspection and Quarantine ordered the company to
immediately recall all of its products and ban its sale.

Local inspectors were also dispatched to check restaurants and
cafeterias to ensure that Meiweiyuan pepper sauce products were not
being used, it said.

The dye was found by the Food Standards Agency of Britain on February
18 in a batch of chili powder made by Premier Foods, one of the
largest food and beverage companies in the United Kingdom.

The agency also found the dye in products of companies such as
Schweppes, Coca Cola and Unilever, Xinhua said.

Sudan-I is traditionally used for coloring solvents, oils, waxes,
petrol and shoe and floor polishes.