FOOD containing a cancer-causing dye is still on sale in Manchester shops, an MEN investigation has revealed.
Almost half the stores we visited had products containing Sudan I, which is at the centre of amassive food scare.
Thousands of meals have already been removed from shelves across Britain.
Last Friday the Food Standards Agency (FSA) warned people to avoid 359 products believed to have been affected when the dye - normally used as colouring in solvents, oils, waxes and petrol - contaminated a batch of chilli powder.
This was used to make a large consignment of Crosse and Blackwell Worcester Sauce, which was added as an ingredient in a host of other products.
Experts warned that it could contribute to an increased risk of cancer, although they said there was unlikely to be an immediate health risk.
Yesterday a further 60 products were added to the list, taking the total to 419. But an MEN reporter was able to buy at least one of the products containing the dye from 15 of the 27 shops we visited.
Ten sold beef and tomato flavoured Pot Noodles, product number 359 on the FSA's list, and three had "The Sizzler" Bacon flavour, product number 358.
Recalled
Eight had Walkers Worcestershire Sauce flavoured crisps, voluntarily recalled by the company last Friday, and added to the FSA's list yesterday.
None of the large national supermarket chains we visited had the recalled products on their shelves - the main culprits were independent newsagents and smaller chains.
Seven of the eight Aleef's newsagents we visited in Manchester city centre still stocked contaminated goods, and staff claimed they had not been told to take them off the shelves.
Mr A. Patel, assistant at Aleef's in St Peter's Square, said: "We have not been informed what to take off. Normally we get a letter from our suppliers, but nobody told us what to take out. I heard that Tesco had recalled some of their products, but that's all. I will take the products off the shelves now."
Three of the four branches of newsagent Marhaba in the city centre stocked foods which should not have been on the shelves.
At their store in Piccadilly Gardens we were able to buy both contaminated flavours of Pot Noodle.
The shop assistant said he did not know the products were on the recall list.
The branch of Marhaba opposite Moseley Street tram stop stocked Pot Noodles which had passed their sell by date in December 2004.
Products
A spokesman for Pot Noodle said they were made aware of the potential dangers last Monday, identified the affected products on Tuesday, and sent letters to retailers, wholesalers and distributors on Wednesday advising them to take the products off their shelves.
It is feared that although national chains were able to withdraw items, smaller business may not have been told what to remove.
Other shops we visited which sold at least one of the contaminated goods were: M&I on Deansgate, Best One, Oldham Street, West Riverside on Bridge Street, and Chapel News, Chapel Street.
Manchester City Council's environmental health and trading standards officers take responsibility for what shops should stock.
A spokesman said: "We have been proactively targeting businesses which we know do not have a national infrastructure, like smaller mini markets and corner shops and asking them to remove these products immediately. We have been doing it since Friday when the warnings came out. As we speak our officers are out and about speaking to smaller retailers."
Some of the other contaminated products include popular goods such as Schwartz cooking powders, Aunt Bessie's ready meals, including Cottage Pies and giant Yorkshire puddings, and a range of McDonald's sauces.
Most of the contaminated foods were supermarket own brand products.
A spokesman for McDonald's said all of their contaminated products were recalled last Wednesday.
Should stricter tests be carried out on food in this copuntry? Have your say.
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Perhaps I am just being pedantic but why on earth dont people use their own common sense if indeed they have any. Most intelligent people are aware of the rubbish that processed foods contain if they are willing to eat pot noodles then they deserve all they get. And putting your health in the hands of phoney tony and co is laughable after all aren't they the charlatans who said there was no risk to the food chain from bse oops we forgot to tell you serfs about creutzfeld jacob and we covered up the real figures of those who died from it. And as for the newsagents still stocking the banned foods on the pretence they hadnt heard anything about it yeah right i live in a cottage made from cream cheese. they knew and shouldnt they be prosecuted by MCC for selling out of date products anyway regardless of this current health scare. The safest way is to eat wholesome foods and as little heavily processed **** as you can afford.
Once again the scare-mongering media are in full effect. Shock, horror headline that 'danger' foods are still, oh my god, on sale. Give me a packet and I'll eat some. The amount of this dye that will be present in any of the recalled products is minuscule. And to continue from the previous comment, many of the additives in processed food have been found to be carcinogenic, but their levels are restricted. If you have a diet of highly processed foods, these limits then become meaningless anyway. A little perspective please.
So, more food has found to be contaminated by something disasterous and poisonous! It is an offence to those who cannot afford healthy food. It's what we will get more and more of in these days of 'conveniant' and 'fast' food'! Healthy food can be expensive. Why not make good wholesome stuff more affordable to us poor ordinary working class folk? It'll cost less in the long run than having to run tests on everything and the ensuing litigation if anything does manage to contaminate anyone.
All the best!