On the trail of Sudan

Jagdish Gautam seems to me to be a bit of a skelm. He runs the Mumbai based Gautam Export Corporation and also Patons Exports and in May 2003 his licence to export chilli was revoked by the Indian Spice Board. His crime ? Batches of his product contained the banned red dye, Sudan 1, which can lead to increased risk of cancer. But Jagdish, being the entrepreneur that he was, did not give up so easily and continued trading by falsifying documents and setting up a new firm, SG Spice and Seed Trading and installing both his and his associate's wives as directors.
The new company applied for permits to export 80 tonnes of spices and it was only 6 months later that it's true identity was exposed and the licences of SG Spice and Trading were also suspended. But by that time it was too late and already he had set in motion a chain of events which would lead to the biggest ever recall of food products from supermarket shelves in British history. More than 300 manufacturers and retailers have been involved in the chain and over 400 food products have been recalled.
There are several amazing things about the story. Firstly the relative ease with which Jagdish could add the dye to naturally brown chilli powder and transform it into a lustrous red, at the same time doubling it's value from $ 250 per ton to $ 500 per ton. If Sudan 1 is so toxic how come he could purchase it with relative ease at the price of $ 25 per ton ? He must have been the biggest user of the dye in India since at the height of his trade he was exporting 5,400 tonnes of chilli powder per year to Europe.
Secondly a really astounding number of companies were involved in the process which could be more aptly described as "chilli laundering " than the spice trade. An Indian company Volga sold the spice to Gautam Export which sold it to UK importer EW Spices which sold it to East Anglian Food Ingredients which sold it to Unbar Rothon which in turn supplied it to Premier Foods who added it to their Worcester Sauce which then was used as a flavouring in the manufacture of over 400 supermarket products.
Confused ? Not as as confused as me because the final amazing revalation is that we have such a predlication for Worcester sauce. I know everyone has a bottle in their cupboard but I've never seen anyone actually eating it and now it seems that we don't have to because the bloody supermarkets have taken it upon themselves to pre-season almost everything we eat with it anyway !
The South African Dept of Health has put a hold on all shipments of red chilli coming in to the country and has alerted manufacturers to test for traces of the dye - I don't know if that makes you feel better, as for me I've thrown out all my chilli powder, stopped buying processed foods and retreated to the top of a mountain with a bag of apples and that little offending bottle of Worcester sauce which I am convinced is perfectly safe because I've had it for the last 10 years.