In the case of the affected products in Ireland - they had originated from a British company, Premier Foods (UK), which had used chilli powder contaminated with the dye in the manufacture of Worcester sauce. That chilli powder meanwhile had been imported from India. Because Premier Foods (UK) supplies to various branded products and manufacturers of other products, such as ready meals and soups, the dye eventually made its way into a number of products from well-known brands here, including Pot Noodle, Tesco, Bird’s Eye, Marks and Spencer and Iceland.

In January 2004, the FSAI issued an alert about a variety of spice products produced by a UK company, TRS Wholesale Company Ltd. The products were found to contain Sudan Red 1. In July, a similar alert was issued about a chilli product, which had been distributed by another company, Petty Wood and Company Ltd. Wholesale Company UK. In August, a second alert was issued about this particular product after the FSAI learned that more batches had been affected than had originally been thought.

The FSAI mainly issues two types of alert, category 1 and category 2. Category 2 is 'for information'. It does not detail or indeed require any action to be taken. Category 1 however means that action is required, because there has been an identified risk to consumers. In all of the cases of Sudan Red 1 mentioned, the alerts were category 1.

However the FSAI emphasises that while it is totally unacceptable for this dye to be used in foods, the risk is small.

"While the colourant has been found to have carcinogenic properties, it would have to be consumed over a long period of time in order to pose a significant health risk", said Dr John O'Brien, chief executive of the FSAI.

In fact even if you have eaten an affected product, the authority insists that there is 'no risk of immediate illness'. "If you have eaten these products, the risk is likely to be very small and not eating them any more is a sensible thing to do."

There are stringent regulations in place in relation to foods that pose a health risk. European legislation places a legal obligation on food businesses to not only have recall and traceability systems in place, but to provide information to consumers on recalls and to recall products from them when there are identified health risks.

But what about Sudan Red 1 specifically? According to the FSAI, all dried and crushed or ground chilli coming into any EU member state must be accompanied by a certificate, which shows that the food has been tested and found to be free of Sudan Red 1. Any consignment that does not have such a certificate is detained for sampling and analysis. Random sampling is also undertaken at ports and by local authorities.

Any consignment that is found to contain Sudan Red 1 has to be destroyed.

However despite these stringent rules, the colourant still made its way into the Irish food chain and unfortunately nobody can guarantee that this won’t happen again. However the FSAI insists that this particular recall was a 'rare situation' and was dealt with 'as fast as possible'.