A WORCESTER woman has sent out an SOS in a bid to save the city's famous Worcestershire Sauce.

Maura Redmond, of Astwood Road, has urged residents to Save Our Sauce. She is worried people are boycotting the Lea & Perrins brand because of the latest food scare.

Hundreds of items have been taken off the shelves after it was discovered the banned dye Sudan 1 had been used in Crosse & Blackwell's Worcester Sauce. The locally-produced, original Worcestershire Sauce was completely unaffected.

Now Mrs Redmond hopes her one-woman campaign will escalate so everyone can go back to enjoying the tangy taste, which is advertised as being a vital ingredient for cheese on toast or a proper Bloody Mary.

To kick-start the drive, she has given the Worcester News the recipe for one of her own favourite dishes.

Mrs Redmond's chicken marinade, which she has been making with great results for more than 20 years, contains a healthy splash of the Worcestershire condiment.

"Worcestershire Sauce is going to take an awful bashing over this latest scare, but I want people to support it and try out the recipe. The sales of Worcestershire Sauce might even go up," she said hopefully.

Mrs Redmond said the recipe works best with drumsticks, but any chicken pieces produce delicious results.

Her calls for sauce support were echoed in Parliament last week when Leader of the Commons, Peter Hain, and Worcester MP Mike Foster declared the original Lea & Perrins version safe.

Lea & Perrins itself has also been doing its best to advertise this fact, with masses of local press and radio coverage, as well as appearances on the 10 o'clock news.

A spokesman last week said the company, which is owned by Danone, did not have major concerns about sales.

But he was delighted by Mrs Redmond's support.

"It is fantastic to see that consumers recognise there is only one Worcestershire Sauce, and that is not affected," he said.

"I really hope other people follow suit and hand in their recipes too. Mrs Redmond's chicken marinade sounds lovely - I wouldn't mind a copy myself."

n We want to know your favourite Worcestershire Sauce recipes. The winner of the best one will get half a dozen bottles of Lea & Perrins. Write to: Worcestershire Sauce SOS Recipe Competition, Newsroom, Worcester News, Hylton Road, Worcester, WR2 5JX, or e-mail: wenedit@thisisworcester.co.uk