The decision to recall Roberton’s Peri-Peri Spice from supermarket shelves has been withdrawn, the Department of Health said on Thursday.
This was after the department’s forensic chemical laboratories in Cape Town and Pretoria determined that samples of the spice contained no traces of Sudan Red dye, department spokesperson Sibani Mngadi said.
”Both departments did not find any traces of Sudan Red dyes in the product,” he said.
The samples were obtained from Unilever following ”the Sunday Times allegations [on March 4] that this product was contaminated”.
”Local authorities are requested to discontinue removing the product from the shelves … However, random sampling of this product can continue as applicable to any other chilli product,” he said.
Mngadi said the investigation into five other products implicated in the report was under way and the results would be released once the process had been finalised.
These products were: Osman’s Taj Mahal Extra Special Chilli Powder, Osman’s Taj Mahal Extra Special Curry Powder (medium), Ma’s Spices Curry Powder, Adamson Spices Hot Curry Powder and Shaikh’s Exotics Peri-Peri Sauce.
The decision to recall Roberston’s Peri-Peri spice from supermarket shelves as a ”precautionary measure” came after the article appeared in the newspaper.
It was reported that two supermarkets had withdrawn six products allegedly contaminated with the cancer-causing Sudan chemical dyes.
This followed after laboratory tests on spices, bought randomly from supermarkets countrywide, had shown traces of the dyes. — Sapa