The Commission Decision of EC dated 20 June 2003, on emergency measures concerning hot chilli and hot chilli products coming into any EC member state, required that the consignments of such products should be accompanied by an analytical report showing that they are free of artificial dye Sudan I. The opportunity to set a confirmatory method is evident, and the paper proposes a HPLC/APCI-MS method useful for identification and quantitation of Sudan I, also at very low levels in hot chilli, other spices, and oven-baked foods. Validation data are reported.