AIBU over nutty labelling of cakes?

[LunaLoveg00d]

Bake sale at work yesterday for Macmillan. We were all asked to make something at home and bring it it. No mention of any ingredients which were banned. This is a workplace which is exclusively adult - no children around.

I baked a coffee and walnut cake. The walnuts were not hidden in the cake (in fact there were no nuts in the cake at all) but I had used half walnuts on the icing as decoration. They were very visible. We had also been given little cards to write what the cake was, and who had made it, so obviously I wrote "coffee and walnut cake".

Went down to the bake sale at lunch to discover someone had scrawled in great big red letters CONTAINS NUTS.

AIBU to think that:

a) the name alone is a bit of a giveaway
b) the nuts were clearly visible and if you're a nut allergic adult then you'd probably be capable of identifying a walnut??

"there were no nuts in the cake at all"
I agree. It was a coffee cake, not a coffee and walnut cake.

The walnuts on top did not make it a coffee and walnut cake. The walnuts have to go into the cake mixture to make it coffee AND walnut.

Meh. Universal labelling is the way to go, otherwise you end up at the "surely everyone knows satay contains peanuts" logic. Also a big red sign will flag up to people looking at the Victoria Sponge on the other end of the table that there is a small danger of cross contamination.

I don't see the big deal. Yes someone was being a bit over zealous but with nut allergies I can understand why.

I can understand it seems excessive, but excessive signage is better than anaphylactic shock.

It's hard to understand how people can miss warning signs but they do. There was a fatal case where I live: a teenage girl whi had a peanut allergy went to a Chinese restaurant and ate chicken satay, despite there being a warning on the menu. She also didn't have her epi pen.

The consequences are too server to get bothered by a red 'scrawl' on a cake label.

I have every sympathy with people who have serious nut allergies and usually bake accordingly - at school there is a no nut policy and we always ask for any baking to be nut-free.

But ADULTS with a nut allergy have to take a wee bit of responsibility for themselves, surely. Every item - not just the coffee cake with walnuts on top - was clearly labelled with what it was. People were free to have a browse and then select what they wanted. Labelling also prevents people picking up some cake thinking it's lemon and finding out it's actually orange or something too.

The satay story is craziness too - I have a friend with a peanut allergy and she actively avoids SE Asian restaurant because peanut is used so frequently and always quizzes staff about what's in a dish. If I knew I had a condition which meant eating nuts would be potentially fatal I'd always check - all it takes is a quick "Not familiar with satay, it doesn't contain nuts does it?"

And the label pissed me off because it was bright red and along the lines of AVOID LUNA'S CAKE IT'S TOXIC.

Its about the level of risk isn't it - with a nut allergy it can cause death very quickly, just avoid nutty things for public sales in future - easiest way as some people react even if in same room and there is nothing they can do about it.

Sorry OP but you are really starting to annoy me. It isn't about you or your fake cake.

So let's talk about satay a bit. Peanut sauce right? Except it isn't, always. Tesco's chicken satay sticks contained no peanuts in 2011 (might have been 2012) but Sainsbury's did. Same with some frozen satay products - some do, some don't.

Or pesto. When I was a kid pesto was pine nuts, parmesean and basil. But then pine nuts got expensive so some brands started adding that tradition Italian ingredient - the cashew nut. And then, when even that wasn't cheap enough, peanuts.

People with serious allergies do all take responsibility for themselves - they'd be dead if they didn't. All they want is as much help leading a normal life as possible, hence universal labelling.

PS plenty of people have died or been seriously ill even after checking as you so naively suggest because, until recently, restaurants didn't need to know what was in the food they served. See the case of the guy recently jailed for lying about using peanuts in his take away dishes.

I think the comment about 'natural selection' is more than a bit cruel. Labelling isn't just about people with nut allergies- it's also to assist people without allergies buying for other people with allergies.

Putting Contains Nuts on products cues the memory of Mrs Atkinson, who is going to visit her son and his very new partner tomorrow and is impulse buying a cake for her visit. Mrs Atkinson is actually very nice, and doesn't have a spiteful bone in her body. She technically knows that her son's partner Annie (who she really likes) has a severe nut allergy, but it's not the topmost thing in her mind. Without the notice, she would buy the coffee and walnut, because it looks freshest. However, the bright red letters have saved her from this mistake, and now Annie isn't going to start the weekend with an episode of anaphylactic shock.

but Annie wouldn't eat it because there's a massive walnut sitting on top of it.

So let's talk about satay a bit. Peanut sauce right? Except it isn't, always

But coffee and walnut cake always has coffee and walnuts in it.

Yeah, I read my post back after I'd submitted it and wondered if someone would try to be sarky about the fact I hadn't clarified what I meant by "severe allergy", on whether everyone would work out from context that Annie would react to Mrs A's whipping the cake out in the kitchen.

Glad I don't have to wonder which way it'll go now!

Tara the original OP wasn't about food labelling generally but about the fact that someone felt that a cake that obviously had nuts on it should have a further note in red pen that there were nuts on it.

I love coffee & walnut cake. Agree with pps that there should be some ground walnuts in the sponge too though - please consider this next time OP.

I would have written the red writing, just to be on the safe side. Better to be overly cautious than to risk someone dying imo.

It's not a big deal to label something clearly, but it's a big deal to die.

Gin Yes, I'm aware, and I rather think I have explained why I completely support the addition of bright red pen to Luna's cake.

When I baked for Country markets (old WI markets) we had printed stickers in red to mark the cakes containing nuts.

I prefer it - you can bypass the ones with the red labels, before you have to read the other varied labels, and varied handwriting. Reduces the chances of buying nutty stuff by accident.

I have a not severe by any means type of allergy to some nuts, and I often end up buying nutty things by accident (M&S Fine Swiss Chocolate )

ll take on board feedback re nuts in the cake. Have tried this before and it wasn't hugely succesful, seemed to dry cake out a bit although that may have been with ground almonds and not walnuts.

Also re the slightly hysterical comments about always checking not being safe - probably perfectly true, but the guy who died after eating a curry did so because the restaurant owner deliberately deceived customers by saying something was nut-free when it wasn't. That's completely different. Nobody could ever say they weren't aware that an omelette contained eggs, or a walnut cake contained walnuts, or a milkshake contained milk.

Wait... peanuts aren't nuts?

Just bash up the walnuts that are no longer halves for the cake bit. It is nicer in lumps and doesn't make it dry - if anything more moist - not sure you can get ground walnuts

Well to be fair if that's your definition of 'slightly hysterical' I think you could qualify too! It's only a label on a cake. I'd just assume that whoever labelled it was hyper aware of nut allergies and thought being ultra cautious was the way to go.

From the way you're reacting you'd think someone had put a sticker marked 'ugly' on your child.

Wait... peanuts aren't nuts?

Legumes apparently. More like a lentil.

Peanut allergies and tree nut allergies are separate things, though they quite often go together because they're similar proteins.

*Legumes apparently. More like a lentil.

Peanut allergies and tree nut allergies are separate things, though they quite often go together because they're similar proteins.*

Ahh I see, you learn a lot on MN

(Obviously haven't learnt how to bold properly)