Taiwanese authorities on Thursday (Dec 18) ordered a leading food company to recall two flavours of instant noodles over fears they contain a banned dye as the island’s latest food scandal deepened.

Health officials said sauce packages in the two flavours of instant noodles produced by Wei Lih Food Industrial Co might be contaminated with dimethyl yellow, which is banned from food products.

Wei Lih said in a statement that its own tests found no traces of the banned dye in the suspected products, but they were recalling them as a precaution and apologised to the consumers for causing any unease.

As of Thursday, more than 10 tonnes of dozens of brands of dried tofu snacks and other tofu products were pulled from shelves for containing ingredients supplied by Chien Hsin company, according to the Food and Drug Administration.