Banned colouring found in belacan
By Rosli Abidin Yahya 

Two samples of Malaysian Belacan - shrimp or fish paste - were found to contain Rhodamine B, a colouring agent banned half a century ago. The finding was made by the Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) recently in two samples of Belacan sold in two wet markets in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. CAP issued a statement on its website a few days ago on the latest finding.

However, CAP did not name the brands of the two samples or whether the brands were also exported to Brunei Darussalam.

Rhodamine B was a cancer causing colouring agent that produced a pinkish hue. When applied to Belacan, the colouring agent caused it to be reddish, giving the paste a superficial fresh look.

The agent was not meant to be used as a colouring agent for food but only for dyeing plastic goods and textiles.

Last year, Rhodamine B was detected to be present in five samples of Belacan by CAP.

The Malaysian Health Ministry quickly issued a statement stating that it had conducted tests on Belacan and found the banned dye in 10 per cent of the samples tested. The Borneo Bulletin carried a similar story last year.

However, the Ministry quickly pointed out at that time that the positive-tested Belacan were imported from a neighbouring country.

CAP said its latest finding was on Malaysian-made Belacan. Six months ago, CAP also detected the presence of Rhodamine B in six samples of Belacan.

Brunei Darussalam imports Belacan mainly from Malaysia.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin