Takeaway curries ‘laced with harmful chemicals’, says study

According to them, the chemicals are subject to legal limits because they are linked to allergic reactions such as rashes and breathing difficulties.

In fact, the study — based on a survey of 66 chicken tikka masala takeaways in West Yorkshire — found that nearly all were coloured with a cocktail of tartrazine (E102), sunset yellow (E110), ponceau 4R (E124) and allura red (E129).

Moreover, 18 of the dishes contained colouring above the legal threshold for curry sauces of 500 mg per kilogramme.

The survey has prompted the Food Standards Agency to ask manufacturers to remove the artificial colours from their products by the end of next year. “The FSA is asking food and drink manufacturers to phase out the use of these colours.

“The food industry has generally taken great strides to remove them but the message does not appear to have been heeded by the takeaway curry trade,” West Yorkshire Council’s Chief of Trading Standards Graham Hebblethwaite was quoted by the British newspaper as saying.

Even a recent study by the University of Southampton has linked such chemical cocktails to hyperactive behaviour in children.