Chinese Cops Bust Plant Manager For Selling Carcinogen-Tainted Chili Powder - Reuters

[hatrack]

Mmm-MMM!!!!

BEIJING - Chinese police have arrested the manager of a factory which produced chili powder tainted with a carcinogenic red dye and sold it to several large supermarkets, state media reported on Wednesday.

The factory in China's southwest Chongqing region mixed cancer-causing Sudan IV -- a compound used in industrial dyes -- in their chili products "in the pursuit of huge profits", Xinhua news agency said.

Chongqing's quality watchdog had closed the factory down and halted sales of the chili powder, Xinhua said.

On Tuesday, local media reported the closure of two cosmetics firms for selling lipsticks containing the same toxic dye.

EDIT

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/40252/story.htm

On edit: fixed headline.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Is this similar to the red dye that led to warnings of red M & M candies

and pistaccio nuts during the 70s?

[BayCityProgressive]

2. The Chinese are not kind to people like this

Last year they gave a millionare businessman the death penalty for fraudulent behavior. That manager is good as dead.

[Warpy]

3. No, Red dye #2 was a different dyestuff and was banned in 1976

after female rats developed cancers after a lifetime of ingesting very large quantities of it. It was replaced by Red Dye #3, which was banned in the mid 80s after it was linked to thyroid cancer in elderly male rats.

The dye in question is an industrial dye more suited to dying plastics and other inedibles. It needs to be handled carefully because it's toxic when inhaled or consumed.

My guess is that this lowlife wasn't careful.

On edit: this is a great illustration of why big government like the FDA in the US is necessary to protect the people from the powerful. This guy got away with it for a very long time and probably wasn't looked at until enough people got sick. The FDA would have caught it immediately. This is why libertarians and small government Repugs are so full of shit.

But we knew that, right?

[triakis36]

4. Be careful of anything coming from Mainland China

A lot of good stuff is made in China (that's why you can afford it)..but a lot of dangerous imitations are too. Just be wary of what you buy. Also, erythrosine is a carcinogenic red dye that is banned in all food imported into the US. However, you can find it slipping through the cracks in some strawberry flavored cookies. Check the ingredients list for anything that's marked out in black sharpie (yes its that ridiculous). Strangely enough, erythrosine is still allowed in Maraschino cherries because the manufacturers lobbied no other dye would be palatable. And those things are soaked in it. So next time you order a cocktail, be sure to remove the cancerous red cherry before downing it.

[nebenaube]

5. great...

I used to love those cherries...