Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Consumer Alert! Food Allergens Show Up in the Nuttiest Places

If you're dealing with nut allergies, you know about checking for ingredients in food of course, but it doesn't stop there. Shampoo, lotion, cosmetics, sunscreen, hand soap--they all can contain nut ingredients.

Most of us are aware of those dangers, once we've read a few labels and seen how prevalent nut ingredients are in all sorts of products. Still, I came across a few new ones while perusing my FAAN newsletter. It just goes to show you--always check labels no matter what!

A few of the unusual products sited for food allergens:

Looseleaf tea -- nut allergens on the ingredients label

Packaged popcorn -- fish mentioned on the ingredients label

A type of multivitamin -- peanut mentioned on the label

Here are a couple of more that I've gleaned in my travels:

Beanbag chair filling--sometimes can contain peanut shells

Pet food, especially small rodent food and birdseed--often contains peanut ingredients

I'm sure you've encountered others, so if you have some "out there" ones of your own, please share then with us!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Oh, this sort of news is so disheartening sometimes! Who would ever think tea would be a hidden source for peanuts/nuts!?

I currently am on a mission to find canola oil that is manufactured/processed/bottled in a facility that does not have any peanut oil present. Any recommendations? It's harder to find than I thought!