Food allergy notices

Freefaller · 12 Apr 2006 at 20:17

In the UK you can buy a pack of peanuts which states a warning that the packet may contain nuts and that people who suffer from nut allergies ought to seek advice before consuming.

You get packets of baked beans which no doubt have "trace of nuts" on them too now probably...

Now I spend a lot of time in other parts of Europe, France and Spain in particular, and I'm just tucking into some nice "saucisson sec" (do a google image search if you don't know what it is) that we often get (among other things) from France, and have in constant supply (well I am a froggy afterall

). Now this particular one has hazelnuts inside it - which is absolutely divine. And on the cover it says "Saucisson sec avec noisette". It's pretty obvious it contains nuts. However there are no warnings for allergies.

Then I look at other products I have from France which "may contain traces of nuts" or "milk" or "gluten" or "every allergy known to man" and they have none of that. They don't seem to have it in Spain or Italy either.

Now is this because they are generally healthier and don't suffer from allergies or just have better quality of foods? Is it because they have better genetics? Are their diets more balanced allowing them to cope with more foods and hence not have allergies? Or is it just because they are too lazy/intelligent to put warnings on? Or is it just plain common sense?

I have never seen so many allergy warnings in any other country bar the US on foods. Your body can build up a resistance or a rejection of certain types of food if you eat too much of it, so it could just be that the UK diet is a bit poor? Too many additives?

I'm just intruiged and would be interested in the input from you lot as to why generally in Europe food allergy warnings seem to be of less importance or less of an issue than they seem to be in the UK. I know this is fact as I talked about it to locals in numerous countries.

Kell_ee001 · 12 Apr 2006 at 20:51

Freefaller said:
I'm just intruiged and would be interested in the input from you lot as to why generally in Europe food allergy warnings seem to be of less importance or less of an issue than they seem to be in the UK.

Imo - none of the above.

Like the US the UK seems to be sueing everyone over anything these days and the manufacturers are terrified!

Adam_151 · 12 Apr 2006 at 20:54

Freefaller said:
pack of peanuts which states a warning that the packet may contain nuts.

One day I will ask a supermarket worker to confirm that it does indeed contain nuts, and its not a lucky dip

and that I can return it if there are no nuts in the pack

james.miller · 12 Apr 2006 at 20:57

ti's because the industry is more concious of being sued in the UK, in all honesty.

everythign these days 'may contain nuts'. It's nothing to take any notice of, its only there to get them out of hot water.

//Mike · 12 Apr 2006 at 21:00

Adam_151 said:
One day I will ask a supermarket worker to confirm that it does indeed contain nuts, and its not a lucky dip and that I can return it if there are no nuts in the pack

Peanuts aren't actually nuts...

Iirc a nut allergy and a peanut allergy are two completely different things. Peanuts are labelled as not suitable for people with nut allergies purely because they are prepared in the same place as other nutty products.

james.miller · 12 Apr 2006 at 21:03

no, people with nut allergy's generally are allergic to most nuts including peanut.

My GF is allergic to peanuts, hazelnuts, brazil nuts, almonds arent too clever and can cause her problems sometimes.

Amp34 · 12 Apr 2006 at 21:07

As Kell_ee says it mainly to do with the sue society we have here unfortunatly. It does help a lot though. I have an allergy to wheat (other than that im completly healthy, only ever been to the doctors about twice before my allergy) and its so much easier to be able to just look at a label and check if its got flour in or not. Also it because the french are lazy.

pack of peanuts which states a warning that the packet may contain nuts.

Can we sue for false advertising? If a pack of 100% peanuts contains nuts there's something wrong there. :confused:

Bernard · 12 Apr 2006 at 21:08

Or to save peoples lives maybe?

Many items are made on lines that run numerous products, some will have nuts in some won't, sometimes contamination will occur.

As someone who is allergic to nuts, peanuts being my nemesis, I can understand why.

I bought some pre packaged Thorntons Plain toffee sometime in the early 90's. Needless to say it contained very small traces of peanuts, which meant I was rushed to A&E, scariest moment of my life, was a very close call. Had there been warnings on at that time, I would not have even considered eating it.

The number of people with allergies has shot up in the last few years, in the UK, which people say has a lot to do with people feeding the wrong kind of foods to their children at a very young age. Maybe the difference in diet etc means they don't have as many who suffer.

<edit>
I do agree that they will be afraid of people sueing them if they don't include the warning.

//Mike · 12 Apr 2006 at 21:09

james.miller said:
no, people with nut allergy's generally are allergic to most nuts including peanut.

My GF is allergic to peanuts, hazelnuts, brazil nuts, almonds arent too clever and can cause her problems sometimes.

I have always heard it as there are a numbe of people allergic to peanuts, a seperate group allergic to nuts, and a very large number who have the allergy to both.

Freefaller · 12 Apr 2006 at 21:42

I understand why they do it. However, how come the UK has a much bigger prevelance of nut allergies (for example) than the rest of Europe? Funnily enough there are the same amount of suffers apparently in France as they are in the UK. However publicised cases of allergy issues are almost unheard of (certainly in France) - hence the lack of warnings I guess? Is it because people use their common sense more, or maybe they are less serious?

There seems to be a prevelance in the UK for allergies it seems. Having lived in other countries it seems to be less publically known at any rate as you hardly see it. I just find it amazing that there are no allergy warnings in the Med or France and that part of the world. Anaphylaxis is not exactly an unknown or uncommon thing anymore.

It must be something to do with our culture or diets that we seem to suffer more than the rest of Europe. Or maybe it's just we're more careful and aware and believe in prevention rather than cure?

This is coming from a 3rd party (i.e. me) who isn't allergic to anything, but as an interested observer.

PardonTheWait · 12 Apr 2006 at 21:45

I think with a lot of the products it's just a disclaimer, the stuff doesn't have any nuts/nut traces in but has been prepared in a factory where they also handle/prepare nuts so there's an outside chance that cross-contamination could happen, and the manufacturer is simply covering themselves.

Freefaller · 12 Apr 2006 at 21:50

Mohinder said:
I think with a lot of the products it's just a disclaimer, the stuff doesn't have any nuts/nut traces in but has been prepared in a factory where they also handle/prepare nuts so there's an outside chance that cross-contamination could happen, and the manufacturer is simply covering themselves.

What do the poor people who really are dangerously Anaphylaxic do? They must have to avoid so many foods and never trust restaurants?!

My cousin (froggy) is apparently Anaphylaxic (nuts) but as long as they're not peanuts he's fine. And never pays attention to what he eats... :/

//Mike · 12 Apr 2006 at 21:58

I would imagine our diet is very strongly related to the increased prevalence of the allergies. I don't think there is another civilised European country which has such poor diet and nutrition. And even when you say something like 'fish', generally the quality of farmed foods in the UK is much much poorer than countries on the continent, without spending vast amount of money, which the majority of the population simply don't have. Tell me, how many French or Italian etc families will you see sit down to dinner on a daily basis to eat something which has come out of the microwave, stuffed full of god knows what?

Kell_ee001 · 12 Apr 2006 at 21:58

Freefaller said:
My cousin (froggy) is apparently Anaphylaxic (nuts) but as long as they're not peanuts he's fine.

Did his parents not like him? What an unfortunate name!

But I still think it has more to do with the culture to sue than the culture to get well

PardonTheWait · 12 Apr 2006 at 22:03

Freefaller said:
What do the poor people who really are dangerously Anaphylaxic do? They must have to avoid so many foods and never trust restaurants?!

My cousin (froggy) is apparently Anaphylaxic (nuts) but as long as they're not peanuts he's fine. And never pays attention to what he eats... :/

It must be a pain in the arse I bet, but I think there's different warnings, right?

This product contains nuts

This product may contain traces of nuts

This product was produced in a factory where nuts are packaged, blah blah

So I suppose they get an idea of the likelihood? I'm sure they're safe with the 'this product was produced' ones, that's literally there in the outside chance someone drops a peanut in the machine and kills some customer, most likely.

//Mike · 12 Apr 2006 at 22:05

Mohinder said:
It must be a pain in the arse I bet, but I think there's different warnings, right?

This product contains nuts

This product may contain traces of nuts

This product was produced in a factory where nuts are packaged, blah blah

So I suppose they get an idea the likelihood?

I don't think people who are dangerously Anaphylaxic can take the risk of there simply being a 'reduced likelihood'.

PardonTheWait · 12 Apr 2006 at 22:06

//Mike said:
I don't think people who are dangerously Anaphylaxic can take the risk of there simply being a 'reduced likelihood'.

The last one, to me, says:

'There's not nuts in this, but there are nuts in the same building, and although there aren't any in this, we don't want you sueing the **** off us if someone on the other process was having a peanut fight and one flew 200 feet and landed in the mincer'

//Mike · 12 Apr 2006 at 22:09

I see where you're coming from. But if you knew that the slightest whiff of a nut would cause you to pass out and die with shock in 10 seconds flat I'm not sure I would risk it if there was no one about.

If the condition was only mild, then absolutely, but not for me if it's as serious as it can be.

Bernard · 12 Apr 2006 at 22:10

I have to check practically everything I buy/eat unless theres zero chance of it having nuts in.

Chinese/Indian etc are a no-no.

Thing is, nuts are used in so many forms and in so many products that they have to have the warnings, some items that I wouldn't have thought had nuts in, have sent me off, luckily not as bad as the time I posted about.

Unless food is prepared in near clinical conditions with absolutely no chance of cross contamination, warnings have to be on, mistakes happen and people would die or come close to it like me.

<edit>
I used to know a guy who worked for a well known cake/biscuit factory and had a look about once. You'd be suprised how close some of the lines were, not hard to imagine stuff being flung the short distance onto the other line. Then theres the personal angle, workers not washing their hands/wearing gloves.

Freefaller · 12 Apr 2006 at 22:53

//Mike said:
I would imagine our diet is very strongly related to the increased prevalence of the allergies. I don't think there is another civilised European country which has such poor diet and nutrition. And even when you say something like 'fish', generally the quality of farmed foods in the UK is much much poorer than countries on the continent, without spending vast amount of money, which the majority of the population simply don't have. Tell me, how many French or Italian etc families will you see sit down to dinner on a daily basis to eat something which has come out of the microwave, stuffed full of god knows what?

I fear this may be a somewhat pertinent post, which I agree with.

I was just interested what the people who were allergic who browse the forums (as Bernard - sorry to hear that it's that bad

- must be a right pain in the behind!) how they cope with it, and how they cope when they live/go abroad.