There have been a number of instances of spices or other food ingredients, such as dried chilli, chilli products, curry powder and palm oil, being contaminated with very low levels of illegal dyes. In these cases there is a strong suggestion that rather than being present as a result of deliberate adulteration, the dyes may be present at very low levels as a result of accidental contamination from the environment or from machinery used to process the spice or other ingredient.
Port Health Authorities will reject products if the presence of illegal dyes is discovered at or above the level of 0.5 parts per million (0.5ppm). The action limit should apply irrespective of whether the High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) or Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry/Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analytical methods have been used.
