Sudan Impact

The weekend edition of the FT carried a report about the impact of the Sudan 1 scare on Lee & Perrin's Worcester Sauce. Cross and Blackwell's Worcester Sauce was contaminated by Sudan 1 laced chilli powder and withdrawn along with over 400 other foodstuffs from UK and Irish shelves. However the withdrawl of this worcester sauce caused fear, uncertainty and doubt regarding Lee & Perrins, despite its all-clear status. For most British people Lee & Perrins is worcester sauce, the brand has about 90 per cent market share. The brand's dominance has come back to bite it. The company customer enquiry line has had to outsource and scale up to handle a 100-fold increase in calls from worried consumers.