UK consumers have been advised to avoid several brands of soy sauce after a Food Standards Agency study uncovered high levels of carcinogenic chemicals in nearly a quarter of the products sampled.
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Last year, the FSA studied 100 samples of soy sauce and discovered the cancer causing chemical 3-MCPD in 22 of them, at levels far beyond those prescribed by an EC limit due to be implemented next April. Around 65% of the dangerous samples also contained the chemical 1,3-DCP, which is believed to damage DNA and thus cause cancer if it is consumed over a long period of time.
The FSA has stressed that the affected samples were imported from Thailand, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. They were sold predominantly in specialised oriental shops and none of the samples taken from products within major retailers had problems.
Two teaspoons of Golden Mountain soy sauce, produced in Thailand and the most dangerous according to the survey, would mean the consumption of twenty times the tolerable daily intake of 3-MCPD, said the FSA.
The FSA has reassured consumers that it will ensure the affected products are removed from sale.
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By GlobalData
