Curry houses in Bradford will be targeted in a crackdown on artificial food colourings.

West Yorkshire Trading Standards officers say a pilot check in Leeds found some brightly-coloured dishes contained illegal amounts of additives, which can cause respiratory and skin problems.

Five out of ten samples had more than the legal limit of 500mgs per kilogram of the yellow colouring tartrazine - E102 - and the red additive ponceau 4R - E124.

One of them had four times the level and another had seven times too much.

Now trading standards officers are turning their attentions to Bradford's curry houses.

Public analyst Dr Duncan Campbell said: "In the worst case, the level of colours was such that the average person would consume more than five times the acceptable daily intake of ponceau 4R by eating this meal."

Principal trading standards officer Steven Kaye said: "The colours in food regulations are fairly new and we decided as part of our routine programme of checks to see if there was a problem with them in Leeds - and it appears there is.

"It is the first time we have done anything like this in West Yorkshire and because of the initial results, we will be extending the checks to Bradford.

"Both these are permitted colours but have been linked to hyperactivity in children and to allergic reactions such as skin rashes, breathing difficulties and susceptibility to hayfever.''

But the colouring checks will be a waste of time in Bradford, according to Fazal Hussain, chairman of the city's Trade Association of Asian Restaurant Owners.

"The artificial colourings are mainly used in Indian and Bangladeshi restaurants," he said.

"It is very much a matter of an individual chef's preference but as far as I am concerned nobody uses them in Bradford.

"I don't like them and if I see colouring in food I don't eat it."

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