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Curry
house bosses in Bradford have hit back at the Food Standards Agency
for urging them to use less artificial colouring according to
Telegraph & Argus.
Indian takeaway restaurant bosses
say they have taken great strides to eradicate potentially harmful
chemicals from their dishes.
A new survey of 66 curry
takeaways in West Yorkshire found that 27 per cent of them were using
illegally high levels of artificial colour.
Nearly all the samples were
coloured with a cocktail of tartrazine (E102), sunset yellow (E110),
ponceau 4R (E124), carmoisine (E122) and allura red (E129).
The Food Standards Agency has
called for these colours to be phased out of use because of their
effects on children, including increased levels of hyperactivity.
But Mastab Ali, owner of the
Bollywood Cottage, in Gargrave, and Mastab's, in Skipton, said: "We
stopped using food colouring a few years ago and we now just use
natural stuff.
It was never our experience
that food colouring affected anyone, but we stopped using it anyway
to reassure people.
"If you go to proper
Indian restaurants and takeaways, 99 per cent of them don't use
colouring any more and use natural ingredients."
Mohammed Rafiq, of Kipling's
Restaurant, in Greengates, said: "We don't really use
colouring at all. People have been phasing out the colouring for a
while. The restaurants that use colouring have got a lot to hide in
their food, but there are lots of top-quality restaurants in Bradford
where there is no problem. Colouring should be minimal."
Graham Hebblethwaite, West
Yorkshire's chief trading standards officer, said: "The Food
Standards Agency is asking food and drink manufacturers to phase out
the use of these artificial colours. The food industry has generally
taken great strides to remove them but the message does not appear to
have been heeded by the take-away curry trade."
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