Heinz ketchup in cancer dye alert

Heinz tomato ketchup was at the centre of an earlier alert over the Sudan 1 dye, which can cause cancer, it emerged today.

It was revealed that the Food Standards Agency warned the European Commission that the Heinz ketchup factory in Portugal feared its supplies of chilli might have been contaminated in December 2003.

Heinz used its laboratories in the UK to test its ketchup but was unable to find Sudan 1, which would have been highly diluted by the time it reached the finished products.

But this information was never posted on the FSA website, which carries a list of products tainted by the dye. At the time, Heinz agreed to recall affected batches.

The Portuguese factory produced sachets of ketchup that were sent to Burger King in Britain and bottles for sale in Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece.

The FSA said the alert over Heinz ketchup had not appeared on its website because Heinz had withdrawn the sauce that had gone to Burger King and no further action was required. An alert is used to warn local authority inspectors, who have to check on recalls, as well as the public.

An FSA spokesman told The Guardian: "Local authorities were contacted ... but it was not on the website."

Heinz's director of communications, Michael Mullen, said: "The supplier alerted us to the issue. We tested our own product but it came up negative." Bottled Heinz ketchup sold on shelves is made in a Netherlands factory, which the firm said was not affected because it used a different spice supplier.