London
Food Standards Agency
The Food Standards Agency is advising people not to
eat particular pickles, sauces and preserved vegetables imported from
Bangladesh, China, Pakistan and India, following a survey that showed
that some products contained illegally high levels of erucic acid.
Eight out of 71 samples of pickles, sauces and preserved vegetables
were found to contain levels of erucic acid exceeding the UK legal limit.
These are in addition to several products found to have high levels
of erucic acid in an earlier survey by Birmingham City Council.
The Food Standards Agency is advising against eating all the products
identified as having illegal levels of erucic acid in both surveys.
The full list of affected products is attached below. If you have any
of these pickles, sauces or preserves you should throw them away.
Erucic acid is a substance naturally found in some oils
derived from plants, primarily in some varieties of mustard seed oil
and rapeseed oil. Although there have been no confirmed cases of erucic
acid toxicity in humans, high levels of erucic acid have been linked
to the formation of fatty deposits in heart muscle in animals.
The affected products were found mostly in small food
shops and cash and carrys serving local ethnic communities. The products
include varieties of preserved chilli beans, mango pickle and minced
green chilli paste.
Andrew Wadge, Director of Food Safety at the FSA, said:
'As well as asking local authorities to act to remove these packets
and jars from sale and to ensure similar products sold in their areas
don't break the law, we are also talking to the importers of these foods
to highlight the concerns about high levels of erucic acid and to identify
the source of the problem.'
The FSA survey sampled small shops and cash and carry
premises and the Agency has asked local authorities to investigate the
distribution of any of the affected products to retail and catering
outlets.
If you have occasionally eaten any of these products
it is highly unlikely that you will have added to your risk of developing
heart disease. In addition, some limited animal studies have suggested
that any fatty deposits that might have formed around the heart following
consumption of high levels of erucic acid will gradually disappear once
erucic acid consumption is reduced.