Is it at all likely that a product would not list an ingredient? (BANANA ALLERGY)

[BellaBearisWideAwake]

DS2 is allergic to banana which is a bit of an unusual one. I bought some fruit pouches for his nanny to use on the days when he has lunch out, and I swear I checked carefully the ingredients because so many contain banana but don't list it on the title, iyswim.

His nanny also checked the ingredients carefully because his last episode came after she gave him an Ella's Kitchen The Red One pouch (meant for DS1's lunchbox) which contains banana but doesn't have it as one of the main fruit pictures on the front if that makes sense.

Anyway, he started throwing up at 4pm today after I had come back from work. I immediately thought of banana, because his reaction is that starting EXACTLY four hours after eating banana he then spends the next two or three hours vomiting until his stomach is empty and he is throwing up bile. We are in the middle of this now.

I checked her notes and also texted her and she is adamant that it didn't list banana in the ingredients (and I trust her). It turns out the pouch she gave him (Plum baby Apple and Blackcurrant) does contain banana, as I checked it out online. We don't have the empty pouch.

Anyway, this is a very long-winded way of enquiring if it is possible that the ingredients could have been wrong on the pouch? Would that ever happen? It's just so weird as we are both on the ball about it.

Also, does anyone else have a child with banana allergy? It's a pain, isn't it?!

There can be a difference between the ingredients listed on the packet and what is actually in it, but i don't know how common it is. I found a discrepancy between the ingredients listed on a packet of freefrom biscuits i bought in Tesco and the ingredients list online and it turned out the packets had been incorrectly printed. It was only that they were made with potato rather than tapioca starch, but it did make me wonder how often it happens and nobody notices.

I do think I remember wanting to buy the pouches you mention and seeing that banana was listed, as we thought ds was reacting to banana (we thought he was reacting to everything at one point!) That's not to say that yours didn't list it though.

I think banana allergy is maybe more common than you might think - I know three children who can't eat it without throwing up, the same as your ds. The good news is that at least two of them seem to be getting milder reactions as time goes on...

I hope your ds is starting to feel better

When your little boy is feeling better, I'd go and look in the shop where you bought it and see what the packet actually says. And if it doesn't list banana, tell the manufacturer.

I always thought that Plum Baby and other baby products were accurately labelled. I have seen things like cow and gate fruit pouches which have pictures of the main fruits in them that reflect the name but with no picture of a banana, that had banana in them, if that makes sense. But I've noticed banana mentioned on the back in the ingredients list. I only know this as I went through a phase of avoiding banana for DD and was taken in by the pictures once.

Also, as banana isn't one of the top 14 allergens I'm not sure what the rules are around labelling 'other' foods.

Also, even if you are comfortable with a particular brand, you do always have to check the labels as things change all the time. :(

Hope your ds is feeling ok now and that he has a good night.

I have met a few people with the bananna problem, fruit allergies are on the increase, we have confirmed allergy to kiwi for one of our children, with possible histamine problems with some other fruit.

banana is not one of the foods that have to be added to the 'allergen box' or high lighted as allergen. So, its not so much that you need to just read each indivdiual label on one packet, but look at the whole range of that type of food. This is because they will share the same factory or line, so cross contamination will happen. The same problem may happen with yogurts so bear that in mind. In the long term i have found the fruit allergens quite easy to avoid compared to the other types of food alllergy we are dealing with.

good luck.

Hi Bella, so sorry to hear about your son. FWIW I have a pouch of Plum Baby Apple and Blackcurrant in my cupboard - just checked the ingredients and organic banana (19%) is the second ingredient in the list. I guess it could be possible you had a different batch that was labelled incorrectly.

Really hope your son gets better soon.

My DS is allergic to banana. The only fruit puddings I ever found that didn't contain banana or dairy were the Hipp organic apple jars. Innocent make a fruit smoothie that is labelled 'banana free' (the green one), but it does have kiwi in it.

eragon makes a good point about cross-contamination, especially as baby food is squishy and probably difficult to clean from the machines.

Hope your DS is feeling better this morning.

Thank you for all responses! I suppose we both just missed it. And I do take on board the cross-contamination issue. I think we'll just avoid pouches, he's 13mo so they aren't really necessary (not that they are ever but ykwim) just convenient for the day of the week he eats lunch at a playgroup.

He's better now but that follows the pattern - throws up until his stomach is emlty and then sleeps it off and is then fine. Waiting for allergen testing at Hemel hospital in a month, we'll see how that goes. But the doctor said on our consultation that if this is his reaction then it doens't matter what the testing says!

I've just sent out a mass email to any of my friends who might ever look after him highlighting the allergy. I had to stop a friend giving him some of her DD's banana just the other day, it's just not something you immediately think of as a danger is it?

I really appreciate the replies, btw

Glad he's better now.

The pouches are really handy.. I'll scan mine all for ingredients later. I know Organix do fruit pots that don't contain banana (a bit more hassle as you have to take a spoon!) but mine all love them - off the top of my head, apple and mango doesn't contain banana..

Yes I've got loads of organix pots!

DD is 4.5 and DS is 2.5 and they still have fruit pouches

I tend to get either the Heinz Apple and Pear puree pouches or Cow & Gate Apple and Pear Fruit pouches, neither of which has banana's in it.

I also noticed in the supermarket today that there are some innocent smoothies that list (no bananas) just under the title but can't remember which flavour it was. It was in the chiller section.

Glad your DS is feeling better.