Telangana State Food Laboratory officials today seized a stock of cotton candy (peechu mithai in Telugu) laced with a potent carcinogen at the Medaram Jatara site. “We detected the presence of Rhodamine B, which is a banned substance known to cause cancer. It is an industrial dye and should not be used as a food colour,” said G. Laxmi Narayana Reddy, Head of State Food Laboratory, who led the food safety enforcement team. The team used Ethyl acetate method for spot testing and spectrophotometry for quantification of Rhodamine B, informed Mr. Reddy, who is Chief Public Analyst at the institution.
This is the first time the State has acted against the use of the fluorescent pink colour used for colouring cotton candy. “As of now, there is no Statewide ban, but we will be acting against the use of the industrial dye whenever it is used in foods as it has a immediate as well as long term health impact,” said the official.
Last week, Tamil Nadu was the first state to slap a ban on the sale of cotton candy coloured with the industrial dye. Other States like Puducherry have followed, while Andhra Pradesh has raised the surveillance level to detect the dye used to colour food.
However, wholesale shops selling essence and colours said they don’t have the stock of the dye in Hyderabad. A shop dealing with essences in Begumpet had the stock of pink water-based and gel-based food colour, but did stock the oil based pink colour which is the choice as it is cheap.
“We will continue our action as and when we detect the banned industrial dye in food,” said the SFL official.
