Carcinogen found in food at Chinese KFC restaurants

• Last Updated 21/03/2005, 22:56:22 The cancer-causing food coloring Sudan I has been found in more Kentucky Fried Chicken products in China.
• The red dye was first found in the company's New Orleans chicken wings and chicken burgers last week.
• The products have since been removed from more than 1,000 outlets in China and destroyed.
• The banned dye has now been found in KFC's spice pickle powder, used to produce spiced drumsticks, spiced chicken wings and chicken-flavored popcorn.
• Xinhua news agency has quoted the Beijing food safety office as saying that KFC has been asked to suspend sales of the three products until they pass inspections.
• The food safety department in Hefei city, in east China's Anhui province, has also banned seven KFC outlets from selling foods found to be tainted with Sudan 1.
• Earlier this month China launched a food safety inspection when the dye was detected in a pepper sauce produced by a subsidiary of American company Heinz, Heinz-Meiweiyuan Food Co., Ltd. in Guangzhou.
• State media reports that the dye has been found in 12 provinces and municipalities sparking recalls of suspect products.
• The dye, traditionally used for coloring solvents, oils, waxes, petrol and shoe and floor polishes, was at the centre of a European health scare in February which led to the recall of hundreds of products.