Urgent recall of £1.20 ‘tropical’ kitchen staple sold in Sainsbury’s that could pose health risk to one in 100 Brits
SUPERMARKET giant Sainsbury’s has been forced to urgently recall a tropical kitchen staple after it was revealed it could pose a major health risk to one in 100 Brits.
The warning was made as a precautionary measure to customers due to an error on the packaging of Wanis’ Tropical Sun Semolina Fine and Coarse bags.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA), who regulate the food being sold in the UK, said that the popular product has incorrectly labelled its ingredients.
Both the Tropical Sun Semolina Fine and Coarse bags all contain wheat in them.
However, this has been left off of the packaging in a potentially serious blunder for people with gluten related issues.
The FSA released the information alongside a statement saying: “This means the product is a possible health risk for anyone with coeliac disease, and/or an allergy or intolerance to wheat or gluten.”
Coeliac disease is a particularly nasty auto immune condition where those suffering can’t digest gluten.
The NHS says that at least one in every 100 people in the UK is affected by the disease.
Regular symptoms can include diarrhoea, stomach ache, fatigue, indigestion and vomiting.
Worse issues caused by the disease include weight loss, bad rashes, infertility, tingling limbs and poor co-ordination, balance and speech.
People can also have an allergy to wheat where they can quickly develop symptoms such as issues breathing and even fall unconsciousness.
In certain cases, an individual with an allergy can go into severe anaphylactic shock.
The warnings are being mainly aimed at Sainsbury’s shoppers as they sell the fine semolina bags in almost all their stores.
Ocado is the other major retailer to sell the problematic products as they have the coarse version in stock that has also been recalled.
The FSA went on to say: “Our advice to consumers – if you have bought this product and have coeliac disease, and/or an allergy or intolerance to wheat or gluten, do not eat it.
“Instead, return the product to the store from where it was purchased for a full refund. For more information contact Tropicalsunfoods.com.”
They urged all shoppers to take messages seriously.
To find out if you have bought one of the affected products go to the official FSA website where they put out the warnings.
They have all the batch codes and use-by dates of the affected products online to see if they match up.
The issues also exists with the 1.5kg and 5kg bags that can’t be bought from most supermarkets but are still affected by the product recall.
Tropical Sun Foods is based in London and specialises in Afro-Caribbean and Asian food.
Their Semolina products are some of the best selling items on the market for the Tropical Sun brand.
A 500g bag costs just £1.20 from Sainsbury’s.
The retailer also stocks various other of their products including root beer, coconut milk and a range of tea bags.
What is a product recall?
If there is a problem with a food product that means it should not be sold, then it might be “withdrawn” or “recalled”.
Withdrawing a product means a shop will take it off the shelves – but if it is recalled, customers will be asked to return their purchase.
The Food Standards Agency issues notices to let consumers and local authorities know about problems associated with food.
In some cases, a “Food Alert for Action” is issued. This tells local authorities what needs to be done on behalf of consumers.
It comes as fellow supermarket giant Tesco urgently recalled a £1.15 lunch staple over fears it may contain “pieces of glass”.
The supermarket recalled its own-brand Sandwich Pickle because the “possible presence of glass makes it unsafe to eat”.
Last night, Aldi was also forced to recall two of its meat products after some of them were labelled with the wrong use-by dates.
Customers who purchased either the Ashfields Chinese Pork Loin Steaks or the BBQ Pork Loin Steaks should check their meat soon as if they have a use-by date of June 22 on them they should be thrown away.
And a range of sandwiches, wraps, baguettes and other chilled foods on sale across Britain have also been recalled in a listeria health scare.
According to the FSA notice, ready-to-eat foods made branded Bread Spread, Orbital Foods, and Perfect Bite and with a use-by date between 10/05/2024 and 18/05/2024 are “unsafe to eat”.
