ENVIRONMENTAL health officers have issued a warning over a range of oil-preserved foods containing high levels of acid.

Surveys have revealed that the amount of erucic acid in certain imported pickles, sauces and preserved vegetables, all of them manufactured outside the EC, exceed the statutory five per cent limit as set out in the Erucic Acid in Food Regulations 1977.

Erucic acid is a naturally occurring substance in some plant-derived oils, primarily varieties of mustard seed oil and some types of rapeseed oil.

Although there have been no confirmed cases of erucic acid poisoning in humans, it has been linked to fatty deposits in, and the inflammation of, heart muscles in animals.

Council officers in Hartlepool have issued a warning after a Food Hazard Warning by the Government's Food Standards Agency (FSA).

Certain batches of 16 products have so far been found to exceed safe erucic acid levels - Le Yau Gau Preserved Bamboo Shoots, Le Yau Gau Assorted Chinese Pickle, Le Yau Gau Preserved Chilli Beans, La Sim Din Vegetable Chillis Tofu, Le Yau Gau Preserved Vegetables, La Sim Din Chilli Black Bean Sauce, Regal Chilli Pickle, Regal Mixed Pickle, Adil Foods Mango Pickle, Laoganma Oriental Black Bean Sauce, Laoganma Hot Pepper Sauce, Priya Green Chilli (Sliced) Pickle, Ashoka Punjabi Mango Theeka, Khanum Minced Green Chilli Paste, Pran Mixed Pickle and Nicobena Mango Hot Pickle.

The products have been distributed to a number of cash and carry premises and small independent retailers, including several in Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Newcastle.

Environmental health officers say the products should be immediately withdrawn and destroyed. For more details, log on to www.food.gov.uk