The food scare involving a cancer-causing dye in ready meals could drive consumers into the fresh arena, industry insiders and analysts have said.
Vegetable suppliers to the processing sector fear the Sudan 1 scare could potentially push people away from ready meals, and create a greater demand for raw materials for use in home-cooking.
Colin Galbraith, of potato and vegetable supplier Fresh World, said: “It could have an effect on consumer up-take of ready meals, but that is only likely to show up in the medium term.
“But consumers could well look at reorganising their buying patterns and move away from ready meals to buy more raw materials to cook themselves. But that will take time to filter down through the chain.”
That trend could be given an added push following calls from leading celebrity chef Delia Smith for consumers to get back to basics.
She told the Daily Mail: “You do see suddenly the horror of what can happen through one little mistake.
“People do like convenience foods, but I sometimes think that it’s quicker to cook something yourself than go to the supermarket.”
So far, more than 400 products have been recalled from supermarket shelves following the alert from the Food Standards Agency.
The illegal food dye - which has been linked to an increased risk of cancer - was found in chilli powder used by Premier Foods to make a Worcester sauce, which was then used in further products, such as ready meals.
It also emerged this week that another company at the centre of the outbreak, herb and ingredients supplier East Anglian Food Ingredients, had been involved in a previous scare after Sudan 1 was found in its products in 2003.
However, an FSA spokesman said the company was not at fault in 2003 and is not being blamed for the current scare either.
Food Standards Agency chief executive Jon Bell said: “The list of products will continue to be updated and put in the public domain. There is no risk of immediate illness and the health risk generally is likely to be very small.”
However the FSA urged consumers to make sure they do not have any of the products at home.
Dr Bell added: “The food companies involved are legally responsible for notifying us, removing the affected products and informing consumers. We expect remaining product information to be provided by Thursday [February 24] and that food businesses remove any remaining affected products as soon as they can.”
A spokeswoman for Lingarden, another supplier of processed vegetables to the affected sector, said she expects to see knock-on effects from the scare but would not speculate as to what they might be.
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