Materia Medica Malaysiana

Cancer-Causing Food Colouring Agent: Red dye alert

All imported food products containing Sudan I, a cancer-causing dye, will be banned from the country today.
A Health Ministry Food Quality Control division circular said all products using the red dye, normally found in spices, will be seized and destroyed.
The circular was issued to all health personnel manning the country's entry points yesterday.
“Officers have been told to look out for products using the dye,” the division’s director Dr Abdul Rahim Mohd told The Malay Mail yesterday.
The Health Authorities in Britain and Europe had banned the dye. The British Food Standard Agency had also identified 474 products that used the dye.
Food manufacturers there had been told to remove the products containing the dye from the market immediately.
He said Sudan I is not listed as a permitted dye for food under the Malaysian Food Regulations 1985.
All dyes used in food must be approved by the Ministry before it can be used as a colour-enhancer in local and imported products.
“The dye is illegal here and so are the products which contain it,” he said.