Food Standards Agency
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Listen to this siteFriday 24 October 2008
Tesco has recalled some of its own brand Prepared Sausage Meals because they contain sulphur dioxide, which is not mentioned on the label. This means the products could be a possible health risk for people who are sensitive to sulphites. The Agency has issued an Allergy Alert advising anyone who is sensitive to sulphites not to eat these products.
The products being recalled are:
Tesco has recalled the affected products from sale and has contacted the relevant allergy support organisations which will inform their members of the recall. Notices are being displayed in all stores explaining why the product has been recalled.
Anyone who has bought the product can return it to any Tesco store for a full refund.
No other Tesco products are known to be affected.
Sometimes there will be a problem with a food product that means it should not be sold. Then it might be 'withdrawn' (taken off the shelves) or 'recalled' (when customers are asked to return the product). Sometimes foods have to be withdrawn or recalled if there is a risk to consumers because the allergy labelling is missing or incorrect or if there is any other food allergy risk.
In such situations the Agency will issue an Allergy Alert. It is also possible to subscribe to an email alert system to receive automatic messages whenever Allergy Alerts are issued. Click on 'Get alerts' in the box at the bottom of this page to find more details.
You can get details of all the latest allergy alerts as soon as they're issued by getting the details sent as a SMS text message direct to your mobile phone.
To sign up to this free service, simply send the text message ‘START ALLERGY’ to the number 62372. To unsubscribe, just text 'STOP ALLERGY' to the same number.
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Sulphites are used as preservatives in a wide range of foods, in particular soft drinks, sausages, burgers, and dried fruit and vegetables. These additives maintain food colour and prolong shelf-life by preventing the growth of micro-organisms.
When the gas sulphur dioxide is dissolved in a liquid, such as wine, it is known as a sulphite.
Sulphur dioxide is produced naturally when wine and beer are made and it is often added to wine to stop it from continuing to ferment in the bottle. Usually, most of the ‘head space’ in a bottle of wine (the part of the bottle not filled with wine) is sulphur dioxide.
Some people who have asthma may react to inhaling sulphur dioxide. A very few people with asthma have had an attack after drinking acidic drinks (such as fruit-based drinks) containing sulphites, but this is not thought to be very common.
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