TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The popular ramen chain Kikanbo (鬼金棒) on Wednesday (March 13) confirmed that two batches of its chili powder were found to contain Sudan Red III, an industrial dye rated as a toxic chemical by Taiwan.
On its Facebook page, Kikanbo said two batches of chili powder from Sung Ghing Biotech Development Co. it had purchased between October to December 2023, contained Sudan Red III. In addition to issuing a public apology, Kikanbo said it would help customers who purchased "chili powder frozen packs" during this period get refunds.
Kikanbo said when the contaminated chili powder news broke, they were told by two suppliers that there were no problems. However, as Kaohsiung City Government continued to release lists of additional distributors, they found in October they had bought six 300-gram packs of "B Fine Chili Powder" (Manufacturing Date: 3/10/2023) from Sung Ghing Biotech Development. Also, in December, they purchased 20 300-gram packs of "A Fine Chili Powder" (Manufacturing Date: 1/18/2023) from the same firm.
Kikanbo said: "We apologize to our customers. We will pay more attention in the future and ask them to provide more reports for us to confirm. We are sorry. You can rest assured that there are no problems with this year's products."
The ramen chain said that consumers who purchased frozen chili powder packages between Oct. 15, 2023, to Dec. 31, 2023, can apply for refunds by sending direct messages to its Facebook account.
Sudan Red is a group of industrial dyes, including I-IV, that are classified as toxic chemical substances by the Ministry of Environment's Chemicals Administration. It has been classified as a Group 3 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
