SUDAN DYES IN SPICES

ASudan dyes,a fraud in the food industry

    It has been reported today that samples of chilly powder adulterated with Sudan dyes have been detected in the samples collected from a Kerala based company.It will be worth knowing the hazards involved in such practices.

Chilly powder has a red colour.But the colour of this vegetable product gets dull in a few days of storage in godowns or packets.The product becomes less appealing to the consumers who are carried away by the sparkling colour of the powder that is mixed with Sudan1,a chemical with a scarlet red colour ,But Sudandyes are chemicals having genotoxic and carcinogenic effects,and are permitted as dyes in the plastic industry only .

 The presence of Sudan dyes in chilly powder was first detect ed in 2003,in France.The Europian Union then enacted laws to ban the use of it in the food industry.

    There are other chemicals like Sudan 2,Sudan3 and Sudan 4 together with othe classes of harmful dyes which are widely used by the unscrupulous  elements in the manufacturing and trading platform.

This type of adulteration is seen in the case of  several other spices ,virgin palm oil,some food products etc.

TEMPTING CONSUMERS BY THIS TYPE OF MALPRACTICES SHOULD BE SEEN AS ATTEMPT TO MURDER AND TREATED AS SUCH.