Alcohol in pudding not clearly displayed

Vanilla extract is an alcohol… so are a lot of other flavoring ingredients. Where do we go from here?

Yikes that must be so stressful for you. (& them of course!)

I don't know OP. I'm a long term vegan and members of my family are very upset by accidentally eating meat so I have long learned the art of the label scan (in English and several European languages) :-) Obvs it's on me if I make a mistake. I have been caught out a couple of times in France for instance, because most of the ingredients I need to look for are allergens and bolded out usually - maybe alcohol should be too? - and you get very used to looking for the familiar names of additives etc, but meat isn't and I missed pork fat on a can of green lentils recently because it wasn't bolded and I wasn't looking for it. That said all I'm going to get from it is distress and sometimes a tummy upset (dairy) not long-term impact - alcohol arguably different. I can see a case for emphasising alcohol and some other items eg pork on labels on the basis of people's religious and cultural requirements as well but it would maybe need to be on a different framework from the allergen one which has to stand out.

But it seems it was on there clearly so although I feel for you I think you need to step your checks up a bit.

Huh? My kids are both anaphylactic to several allergens including some that are not in the main 14 that need to be highlighted by law.

It's up to us to make sure of the ingredients. I'm not sure why you think avoiding alcohol should take precedence over actual life threatening issues when being highlighted on packaging..

@MummyDummyNow

It is clearly written on the front of the packaging as well as in the ingredients, just because op didn't notice, it doesn't mean it wasn't there. I buy these (yummy) and they are not high enough in alcohol to make them restricted to over 18's anyway

There is a statutory use of bold in the ingredients list for specified common allergens. If you start putting random other stuff in bold it will be harder for people to spot those.

It's a legal requirement, not a design choice you can play with as you fancy.

Ironic that, just like the op missing where it said on the packaging (twice) that the product contains alcohol that so many other posters are missing the many, many posts stating just that.

Oh dear. It's an easy trap to fall into, and oh my DAYS tiramisu is bloody lush! 😩😚 I could eat it every day. (I don't!)

Good points.

Reading this has made me realise something . I’m on day 110 of no alcohol, at least I thought I was. I have developed an addiction to Tirimasu - especially the Waitrose one and have some at least 3 or 4 times a week - I sort of knew it contains alcohol but thought it was so negligible it didn’t count. I think I might be kidding myself 😥

I work in substance misuse and we prescribe a medication which can be very dangerous if you ingest alcohol so for those saying it's not life threatening, for some it could be.

Although I agree of you can't have or don't want to have alcohol you probably need to check labels as it is so common in many prepackaged foods.

Yes good points. Fair enough.

Unless they have nut allergies!

Always worth highlighting when allergies are mentioned - nut and peanut allergies are not necessarily any more serious than other allergies. Other common allergens include milk, egg and sesame but any food can cause an allergic reaction.

Some people with serious allergies struggle to have them taken seriously "because it's not as if it's a nut allergy", hence flagging it.

Unless you have other guidance from the person with the allergy, all allergies should be treated as equally serious.

@Purpledefector I don't consume any alcohol for different reasons and it can be really frustrating that it's not more clearly marked in ingredients lists and that's so widely used in food when there are a lot of people who can't consume it for various reasons.

You don't always cook a cold dessert, sherry in a trifle for example.

So why did a few mouthfuls of alcohol in a dessert upset him so much?

No.

https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/summer-ttd-mealdeal/sainsburys-chocolate-hazelnut-pots-taste-the-difference-2x95g

It says Contains alcohol on the front.

Was he trying to win a bet or something?

And it's next to storage and use by guidance so I always check those things so my eye is drawn to it quite quickly

Very clear for me

Well if it's on the ingredients that's OK... but they should have had a little sign posted by it I suppose - saying it's got alcohol in it... Who the fuck reads the ingredients when they're out buying a cake at a cafe? Unless they have nut allergies! You got a gift voucher though, so that's the end of the matter for you @Purpledefector But they could do with making the alcohol content a bit more clear.

My husband was teetotal for a few years in the early 2010s ... (7 years I think.) And about 5 years ago he thought 'I really fancy trying this dessert it looks nice..' It was tiramisu from Aldi. We had it 5 or 6 times over about 2 months before we actually realised there was alcohol in it ... I know, daft because you can taste it and we realised after a while!

He was absolutely fuming after spending almost 7 years completely teetotal ... After that he stopped being teetotal but still has a drink of alcohol maybe 5 to 8 times a year.

Alcohol was on the list of ingredients. As a recovering alcoholic it is your responsibility to check labels. You didn't do your due diligence. This is on you, not the store or the product.

this.

They can read the ingredients then.
People with coeliac disease, for example, manage it all the time. Ditto nut allergies which can kill some people and quite quickly too.