POLICE officers executing a drugs warrant at a Kirkby Stephen home bit off more than they could chew when they stumbled across nine large bags stuffed with stolen food which was either out of date or possibly contaminated with Sudan 1.

Officers were part-way through a raid of the home in search of cannabis as part of Operation Crackdown when they came across the bags stuffed with dozens of pies, sachets of sauce and around 1,000 packets of crisps worth around £217.

Investigations by officers and Eden District Council's Food Safety Team linked the food to the nearby Co-op store, where a quantity of food, some suspected of containing the carcinogenic red dye, had gone missing from an outdoor skip.

A 23-year-old man was arrested for stealing the food, which had been contained in bags warning that contaminated food was contained inside and should not be eaten.

After admitting the theft, he was later slapped with an £80 fixed penalty notice, the first to be given out under a three-month pilot to hand out notices for small thefts and damage to property.

Sergeant Grant Warwick, community police sergeant for Upper Eden who headed the investigation, told the Messenger that although stealing from a skip was not a heinous crime the incident had serious undertones because of the nature of the goods taken.

"At first we thought the suspect had a very bad diet," said Sergeant Warwick. "But we then considered that Sudan 1 was a factor, which gave it a serious edge because of the risk to public safety. We can only speculate what would have happened to the food if we had not raided the home and if it would have been consumed by the man or sold on. But there is a proven link with drug use and this sort of inquisitive' crime."

The food recovered from the home has now been disposed of and included 20 family-sized steak and kidney pies, 16 sachets of Korma curry sauce, three stir fry sauces, tex mex sauces and 1,000 packets of crisps, either loose or in multi-packs.

Cumbria Police and Cumbria Trading Standards warned people not to take food from skips or they could face legal action.