KFC sells southern fried toxic dye to Chinese consumers

By at 7:18 am Thursday, Mar 17

Boing Boing reader Tian says:
The front page of today's Beijing News dedicates the headline and photo to KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken). The company has openly admitted that the presence of Sudan I - a red, chemical dye which is thought to contribute to cancer - has been discovered in two products sold on the Chinese market: the 'New Orleans Roast Chicken Wings' and the 'New Orleans Roast Chicken Legs'. As of yesterday, these two Southern chickens will not be seen around the Capital for some time. Together with articles commenting on the news, the newspaper published the official letter issued by the Pepsi China Corporation - proprietor of the KFC brand - in which they apologize to Chinese consumers for the Sudan I problem.
Link

Boing Boing reader Nick Madeira says:

Regarding the KFC cancer story -- we recently had a big scare in the UK about the same dye, which prompted the following:

"Sudan 1 has not even been proved to be carcinogenic in human beings: it is merely suspected of being so. True, some laboratory rats developed tumours after being fed relatively large amounts daily for two years. But you or I would have to eat thousands of portions of contaminated sausages, pies, soup and crisps a day to ingest a comparable dose. The rule in toxicology is that the dose makes the poison; Bruce Ames, a molecular biologist at the University of California, points out that half of all chemicals tested on rats, whether natural or synthetic, cause cancer because of the very high doses involved. By contrast the amount of Sudan 1 in the processed foods is so tiny that Alan Boobis, of Imperial College London, reckons eating some would involve a health risk roughly equivalent to smoking a single cigarette – in your entire lifetime."

Link to complete story. I just thought I'd mention it, though I'm sure the Colonel's guilty of many other ills!

Xeni Jardin

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