I would say the paracord is fine until you use the red cord for its purpose. When I cut off my 21 cm piece and pulled the red cord, all the other strands came with it. If I ever use this stuff for fire starting,I will probably whack off 5 cm at a time (I am learning to speak Canadian, he said in measured tones), leaving the rest unhindered for other uses.

I am amazed at running across discussions of using pcord for situations involving life safety, as in rappelling, where its use is dreadfully inappropriate. Shoe laces, lashing, stuff like that I would think fire cord is just as handy as the regular stuff.