One year on from the most wide-ranging recall ever to strike the food industry in the UK, the lessons appear to have been learned
That's the view of Reading Scientific Services (RSSL), which carries out testing for illegal dyes, and training in traceability and recall procedures.
Through its Food e-news service, RSSL also monitors recalls on a weekly basis, and the past three months have seen just two recalls involving Sudan Red contamination.
That compares well with the three-month period before the big incident last year, which saw many more cases.
In November 2004, RSSL had already issued an alert advising that more than 200 brands and products had been recalled or withdrawn during that year due to Sudan Red contamination.
RSSL's advice at that time had been that a little routine testing could save a lot of problems.
"Over the last year we've noticed that many clients are now being more thorough in their regular due diligence testing," says Iain Gadsby.
"There has been a general increase in routine screening for Sudan dyes as well other colours such as Rhodamine B, Butter yellow and Orange II.
"There has also been good interest in the forthcoming Recall and Traceability course from RSSL Food Training which is taking place on 5 April 2006.
"The overall picture is one of the industry having seen how easy it can be to get caught up in a contamination crisis, and doing its best to avoid a repeat of the events last year."
