To think that supermarkets could spare a thought for those with peppers allergies?

[londonmummy1966]

Ok so I know this is a first world problem but..

All my family are away for a few days so I thought I'd have an evening slobbing out in front of a box set and eating a ready meal. I fancied something light as it is hot here today - I wasn't fussed about what - vegetarian, fish or chicken. However, I am allergic to peppers - they make me violently sick. Every single one of the ready meals in my local, admittedly small, supermarket contained peppers other than a super stodgy Chinese breaded chicken in sickly sweet lemon sauce and containing a million calories.

Everywhere I look these days peppers appear to be ubiquitous and yet I know that lots of people have this allergy. AIBU to think supermarkets etc ought to be a bit more aware of it?

I hear you.

They will be aware and will rely on people reading the label. They will offer products that sell well and gives maximum mark up and I'm guessing peppers will be a cheap ingredient.

Surely you could say that about loads of things though? A lot of people are allergic to tomatoes and they are in almost every sauce you pick up. If you were allergic to onions you probably wouldn't be able to eat a ready meal at all.

MIL is allergic/intolerant of peppers (although is ok with chillies), and doesn't like creamy sauces. She's a veggie. Eating out is v difficult for her.

Yes peppers v common in stuff these days. I suppose they fit with a variety of cuisines and are recognisable for people rather than too much 'foreign' veg.

I love peppers. More peppers please.

People can be allergic to many things, from gluten to tomatoes to protein to peanuts. I just can't see how manufacturers can accommodate every body.

I think it's one of those "life is unfair " moments when you have to realise that you can't have the same as everybody else.

I think if you have any food allergy, you need to cook from scratch. I am not being judgmental, just realistic. You cannot trust ready meals.

Yanbu peppers are horrible but they do insist on putting them in everything.

I'm not allergic to them but they give me horrendous heartburn so YANBU!

Didn't they even have a shepherd's pie? Or any type of bog standard meat and sauce curry?

DH really dislikes peppers. The smell makes him feel sick - and he can tell if a pepper is out when he is in a different room.
I spend ages reading ingredients - especially on curry sauces - to find the ones without peppers.
Have noticed the number of foods that have peppers in has steadily increased over the last decade or so.

Never met anyone with an allergy to peppers so possibly it's not that common. I know a lot of people don't like them though.

I always hold out hope of one day finding a ready made sandwich that doesn't contain Mayonnaise or pickle. (Or some other similar gunk)

I'm still looking.

Yes OP I'm the same! And I have weird reactions to paprika too, which is in a startling number of things these days. There is less and less I can eat by the week it feels.

I have this problem too, and the annoying thing is when they turn up in stuff they have no business being!

Ready meal wise I find lasagne, Thai chicken curry, chicken tikka masala, lamb rogan josh are all fine. And quite a lot of pizzas.

Order a pizza yes it's annoying to check every package for ingredients, I get you op but as pp have said, imagine being allergic to onions! Yanbu to be annoyed but yabu to expect meals to be pepperless.

I have a similar problem with basil and cinnamon. It is usually easier to make my own than read all the labels. I don't eat meat so find that anything aimed at vegetarians has extra of the things that make me (not envy).

Anyone can be allergic to anything, there is no food that is not a potential allergen. The most common and/or dangerous ones are required, by law, to be labelled in packaging in a specific way.

There are often reviews where foods are added to the official list (i think kiwi and apples might be on the drawing board for addition at the minute)

The trouble with mass food manufacturing is that a 'normal' clean of equipment is not enough to remove traces that could cause anaphylaxis (which is why you get the 'may contain nuts' thing) so it is impractical to do deep allergen cleans between each product. (usually for X free products the whole factory is an X free zone, even down to the worker's packed lunches)

I am allergic to fish so i totally understand where you are coming from (and luckily fish isn't in everybloodything, although tesco seem to put it in and out of their caesar salad wraps at the drop of a sodding hat) and i know this doesn't help you buy dinner.

Ime waitrose are very good / strict with allergies, and complaining to supermarkets does have an effect.

Loon, M&S do them, or used to.

I'm severely allergic to pineapple - I thought it would be pretty easy to avoid but you'd be surprised what it gets into. I almost got some dried cranberries the other day for baking no but luckily I noticed a little asterisk that said they were plumped up with pineapple juice otherwise the first I'd known about it was when my throat closed up.
It's the nature of allergies they are a pain in the arse.

I don't eat much red meat and it is a bit too hot today for shepherds pie - both the veggie and meat lasagnas had peppers in as did all the Thai and Indian dishes

I almost always cook from scratch which is why I was so disappointed as a ready meal is a wonderful lazy treat for me. I'm now off to make myself an avocado and tuna salad but its not quite the same. I'll console myself with a glass of rose. everyone!

Another one who can't eat peppers or onion powder/reconstituted onion/raw onion same with spring onion and chives.

Struggle to even get a salad let alone a ready meal eating out tricky too!

It's amazing how many foods contain paprika and tumeric.

We are used to checking the actual ingredients now.

Yes! Dp is allergic to peppers and it's a bloody nightmare just trying to find a chinese sauce to make something at home. I am literally limited to one brand now.

Even things like the packets of savoury rice, which are lovely in the summer with salad, have peppers in them. Every single one.

I like peppers and so does DD1 but if we buy them they have to be sealed up in a bag and placed away from all other food in the fridge.