£12,000 fines for importer of illegal food dye

The discovery of the dye, known as Sudan 1, sparked a nationwide alert to track down which businesses had been supplied with packs of the "mixed bisar" product. But a judge heard yesterday that of the two tonnes imported by Alif Wholesale Foods, most was still unaccounted for.

James Lake, prosecuting, said because the firm had not kept records of the outlets it had supplied with the product, about 2,000 packs had still not been traced and a nationwide food alert remained in force.

Recorder Michael Gargan was told the missing stock might have been destroyed by an employee at the company, but that could not be confirmed.

Company secretary Fakhruddin Patrawala represented the firm as the judge handed out fines of 3,000 each on four admitted breaches of the Food Safety Regulations.

The court heard Patrawala and his wife had been running a successful textile business but when they ran into financial problems they decided to import food as a sideline.

Lawyer Rachim Singh, for the firm, conceded it had been "wholly negligent" in the way it conducted its business, but said that as soon as the problem with Sudan 1 came to light they stopped importing any other food products.

He said the product had been purchased by an employee on behalf of the company. It had been a new venture and the company had not been aware of the regulations.

The court heard that grocery stores and restaurants were put on high alert after the food dye, which can cause birth defects and cellular damage if taken in large quantities, was discovered in Bradford last May.

It is illegal to add the dye, which is not considered safe to eat, to food in Britain and rest of the European Union. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) warns that the Sudan 1 dye has been shown to cause cancer in laboratory animals and these findings could also be significant for human health.

The spice mix was packed in March 2008 and had been imported into the UK from Pakistan by Alif Foods, based at the Synergy Business Park, Essex Street, near St James's Market in Bradford.

An FSA spokesman said at the time that there was no "immediate risk" of illness because the small amount of dye in the spice mix.

But council enforcement officers were told to remove and destroy it and to ask retailers to display notices explaining the reasons for its recall to customers.

In 2005, the discovery of Sudan 1 being used in foodstuffs led to 44 separate products being removed from supermarket shelves.

Mr Singh told the court yesterday the firm no longer imported food products from abroad.

"They were ill-equipped to be dealing in this type of trade," said Mr Singh. "The company's sole business now within the UK is for them to go to suppliers directly here who can manufacture Asian spice."

Recorder Gargan said there were good reasons why Sudan 1 was a

prohibited substance in foodstuffs.

He noted the imported goods from Pakistan could have earned the company a profit of about 5,000 and he took that into account in setting the fines.

He said the food importations had been a new venture but the company had no knowledge of the regulatory framework in which it should have been operating.

"In my judgment this is a very serious catalogue of offending which put at risk the health of the people of this area and indeed further afield and that calls for significant punishment," said the judge.

The firm was also ordered to pay a further 3,801.40 in costs.