Allergies

[Boatbuilder]

Does anybody on here have an allergy to certain products - particularly foodstuffs?

There is always a lot of publicity when somebody is badly affected by, or dies from an allergic reaction to something, and in particular a foodstuff.

In the 'Only Connect' topic the spice Cardamom (or Cardamon) has recently been referred to with variation in the spelling of it. Out of interest I decided to look at what spelling is used on the products sold in our supermarkets and randomly chose ASDA to look on their website.

You may wonder what this has to do with allergies, but if you read on you'll find out.

On the ASDA website I noticed all the Cardamom products are sold with the word ending in 'm'. However, out of interest I also put in a search for 'Cardamon' and it brought up just one product, but that was because of an obvious error by whoever input the detail for the website, as a closer look at the item shows the packaged product is actually spelt 'Cardamom'.

Still puzzled as to why I have called this topic 'Allergies'?

Well, if you look at the image below from the ASDA website, it includes the following declaration which I just happened to notice:

Allergy Advice
May Contain: Celery, Cereals Containing Gluten, Milk, Mustard, Nuts, Peanuts, Sesame, Soya, Wheat.

Packed in a factory that handles Peanuts, Sesame Seeds, Wheat, Gluten, Milk products, Celery, Mustard, Soya and Other Nuts.

This means that the product you are buying may contain (or be 'contaminated' by) up to NINE or more other ingredients that some, or even many people may be allergic to.

Surely it should not be possible for such things to happen these days, where possible cross-contamination of so many other ingredients into a one-ingredient product could possibly occur.

As long ago as the early 1980s when I worked in purchasing in the food industry, one of the materials I was responsible for buying was meat - beef, pork and chicken, which was used in various frozen products such as burgers, pies, etc. It so happens that we also supplied products to certain retail sources which had to be produced under strict 'halal regulations' using meat supplied by an approved halal abattoir. Whilst this has nothing to do with allergic reactions, but with religious beliefs, all equipment used in our factory had to be thoroughly cleaned to a given specified procedure to ensure that the halal-produced products were not 'contaminated' by non-halal materials previously used on that production line.

If our products had been 'contaminated' with non-halal meat, or other ingredients that didn't meet the halal requirements, they wouldn't have harmed anybody physically. So if such strict procedures can be followed for religious reasons, why can't they also be followed for reasons that could possibly lead to somebody losing their life?

It just doesn't make sense to me how packing companies can be allowed to get away with packing things like this cardamon product which then puts all the onus on the person buying the product to check all the small print on the packaging.

I'm not criticising the supermarket ASDA as it is not their own brand, however, I'm thankful I don't have any allergies.

[Bertie]

That's a very good point, Boatbuilder.

Thankfully I don't have any allergies that would result in any kind of a 'dangerous' reaction. Though I do suffer badly with IBS and, more recently, have to mostly avoid Dairy products, so I do note what's in each food and those 'packed in a factory that handles...' are an added nuisance.

But, as you say, much more than 'just a nuisance' to those with a potentially fatal allergy.

[Boatbuilder]

Just out of interest, I looked at some of the items on the ASDA website for the other Cardamom products that were spelt correctly in the original search and this one is even worse than the one above for 'may contain' items:
https://groceries.asda.com/product/indi ... 0001458463

I wonder if there is actually any cardamom in the pack?

[Katharine]

It's a tricky one. Thankfully, all the foods I have to avoid are only intolerances. I accidently ate some 'normal' Christmas cake recently, and didn't realise until someone pointed out the ingredients. With hindsight, I had felt slightly 'out of sorts', but that may have been caused by other reasons, rather than what I'd eaten. I know that people with Coeliac would been extremely ill if they even eaten a few crumbs of the cake.

I don't know how easy/cost effective it would be for companies to make their production lines 100% free of all the allergens there are. My children's schools had to be nut free because of the extreme sensitivity of some of their pupils. One child became ill after sitting next to someone who had consumed peanut butter earlier in the day! So even that policy was 100% safe.

I can see why many firms cover themselves with 'may contain'. If someone has a serious allergy to something, then I don't know what precautions would need to be taken to ensure there was no cross contamination - would it just be the machinery that was cleaned, or would the air have to be completely changed in case there was anything floating about?

One possible way around it would be to stop making products that contain the offending ingredients, or have completely separate sites for products that say contain mustard, and another for wheat etc., but that doesn't seem very practical, because not everyone is allergic to everything. I can't have wheat/gluten, or any milk products. Some people however can tolerate sheep or goats milk products. Other people can't have eggs, which I'm fine with, although that can cause some confusion. Recently someone commented that they couldn't understand why I couldn't have milk, but was ok with eggs. Maybe they didn't realise that one comes from a 4 legged mammal and the other from a 2 legged bird.

[Hannah]

I think often it's just printed for legal reasons (so they can't be sued) without there being much risk of contamination. Obviously that makes it difficult for people who really react to the tiniest bit of an allergen. I know of some people who have contacted factories to get more detailed information about "what is produced where" and "what else is produced in the same factory" and after that they could buy a few products with that generic warning.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I'm allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, oats and most fruits (as well as many non-foods). So far I've only ever responded by swelling, itching and coming out in a rash, though I do have an EpiPen in case I have an anaphylactic reaction at some point. Funnily enough, I only became allergic to these foods in my late thirties. Before that, I could eat all of them without any problems. As I haven't (so far, anyway) had an anaphylactic reaction, I don't worry about the "May contain" warning - but life must be hard for those who have to take that into consideration.