You may have seen stories in the media recently about bags of monkey nuts being withdrawn from sale because they were not labelled as peanuts. It may seem obvious that monkey nuts contain nuts, as some of the media pointed out. However, it is important to remember that the product was withdrawn because it was not labelled as peanuts, which trigger a specific allergy. Not everyone would necessarily know that monkey nuts are peanuts, and people who are allergic to peanuts may not be allergic to other types of nuts.
Some people are allergic only to peanuts and can safely eat tree nuts such as almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts. Others are allergic only to tree nuts but can safely eat peanuts. Some people are allergic to both. A person with an allergy to nuts or peanuts can have a fatal anaphylactic reaction if they eat even a small amount of the food to which they are allergic. Food labelling therefore needs to be clear about exactly which nuts are in a food product, so that people can make the right choices. This is why there is legislation that controls how allergenic ingredients in pre-packed foods have to be labelled. The exact name of the food must appear on the label, so that anyone allergic to that food can easily recognise it and avoid it. After all, not everyone will know, for example, that monkey nuts or that groundnuts are other names for peanuts, that tahini paste contains sesame, or that edamame beans are a type of soya bean.
The stories in the media also confused labelling of specific ingredients in a food product, which is required by law, with labelling of possible cross contamination risks, which is voluntary. Because of the way that nut ingredients are handled in production, a product that does not intentionally contain a particular nut ingredient may come into contact with small amounts of that nut during manufacture. Businesses can choose to warn against this possible risk using phrases such as ‘may contain nuts’. These warnings may not always separate out the different types of nut. So it is quite possible to see a label on a bag of roasted peanuts that says ‘may contain other nuts’– and this would be an important warning for people who might be fine eating peanuts but have an allergy to another type of nut.
