Economic Adulteration of Ingredients with Unapproved Food Colorants
The early 2000s saw the first marketplace incidents where non-food-approved colorants were identified in food products. The first major incident occurred in the UK and affected both branded and own-label products in ambient, chilled, and frozen foods sectors. The root cause of the problem was paprika that had been adulterated with Sudan 1 (red), a dye commonly that is used in home care products. The colorant was in an ingredient used in a well know brand of Worcestershire sauce, which in turn had been used as flavoring ingredient in other formulated products, ranging from crisps, dehydrated noodle snacks, soups, sauces, and frozen and chilled entrées. Given the usage of Worcestershire sauce within the finished products was low and the level of paprika used as an ingredient in the Worcestershire sauce was low, the levels of Sudan 1 in the finished products was either at or between the limit of quantitation and the limits of detection for the analytical methods used at that time.