Tesco's and fake labels - totally legit

[Moonshine5]

Genuinely shocked.
What is the point of a fake label? AIBU

Unfortunately as you'll know people don't really give two shits about allergy sufferers so I don't think many will care. I'm sure the advice will be to avoid it all in case, which is challenging in this country where most things are pumped with oil of some kind.

Op is mad about Tesco using signage instead of entirely new packaging which would take months to produce but randoms on mumsnet can make all the unsubstantiated claims they like.

Both are good for you. Too much of either are bad for you.
The dose makes the poison

Allergic reactions to rapeseed oil are very rare and, if they do occur, are always mild. The same is true of the other allowed substitutes (refined coconut oil and refined soybean oil). None of these oils are among the allergens that must be declared on food labels.

Um....soy is very definitely an allergen that must be declared on food labels. It's one of the ones that has to be highlighted in bold.

These are products eg crisps that are normally cooked in sunflower oil for instance, it's to ensure production lines continue while new packaging is ordered. No big conspiracy. Same waiver is in place for free range eggs where birds were kept inside due to bird flu. It's fairly common where there's sudden changes to specific supply

So you would prefer millions of products to suddenly become unavailable while manufacturers change, proof and print new packaging materials? You would prefer a price rise in these millions of products during w cost of living crisis? All for a temporary policy to deal with a shortage?

How strange.

Tell me you don’t work in consumer goods without telling me you don’t work in consumer goods…..

Um....soy is very definitely an allergen that must be declared on food labels. It's one of the ones that has to be highlighted in bold.

Soy yes but not refined soya oil.

"In the UK, the Food Standards Agency advises that refined soya oil (the main component of vegetable oil) should be safe for people with soya allergy, because the proteins that cause allergic reactions are removed during the refining process. However, cold-pressed soya oil, usually sold from delicatessen counters or health food shops, can contain soya protein and should be avoided."

https://www.allergyuk.org/resources/soya-allergy-factsheet/

I'm sure both my local Sainsburys and Waitrose have big signs up explaining this.

I've not bothered reading past the "due to the war in Ukraine we've had to substitute..." bit because it makes no difference to me at all.

Someone's been on the moonshine

Wish this was the biggest thing I had to worry about in life. Must be nice

It seems like Tesco (and others) have taken a pragmatic and sensible approach, to me.

Making clear what has happened and why but without risking food supply issues or waste.

Happens with eggs too. People were buying 'free range' eggs for 16 weeks when they were actually indoors for bird flu. They're allowed to do this. Only after 16 weeks did all the labels change to barn kept hens.

I agree with OP. The companies should at the very least be able to print a sticker out and slap it on the product!

"Unfortunately as you'll know people don't really give two shits about allergy sufferers so I don't think many will care. I'm sure the advice will be to avoid it all in case, which is challenging in this country where most things are pumped with oil of some kind."

This is temporary. Ideally allergy sufferers should be able to buy whatever is on the shelves, but while the war is on they can't. If that's a big problem (ASD aside) then you do need to rethink your reliance on ultra processed food. In other countries they are queueing every day to get their small allocation of oil to cook with. More powerful companies are lobbying to suspend oils being used as biodiesel, especially in developing countries, so we can redirect it to our processed food industries. Many on MN are anti shops like Primark while making everyday food choices that cause massive issues across the world.

How much price Increase you want in your pre made foods?

printing, distribution, minimum wage to pay people to stick billions of stickers on individual items…

surely a great fuck off sign and warning on the website/news that this due to war is enough effort made to keep people informed

the world doesn’t revolve around you, this has come about due to the suffering of Ukrainians, your priorities are whack!

This happens all the times, and not with ingredients as 'safe' as oils.

Yes, but the refining process removes the substances that cause allergic reactions, so highly refined soybean oil does not have to be declared.

More in my life than to get worked up about this . Read there info and make your choice.

I fail to see how they are lying they can't get the right labels told us why and it's in hand.

That does seem odd @Moonshine5 but not anything to get overly upset about I think. It's been approved by the FSA and the oils are very very similar. Although if someone has some kind of a reaction to something because they thought it was something else, there will be trouble!

Hello All it is good to see all the responses. I am always open to viewing matters from alternative perspectives and that is one of the great things about Mumsnet. The active debate, thank you for the continued education Mumsnet community members. Not agreeing with the majority in no way invalidates opinions merely highlighting contexts. 👏

That's interesting, I didn't know refined soya oil didn't have to be labelled, although I was aware it doesn't normally cause a reaction in most allergy sufferers. Personally I find soya flour is usually ok as well, but it's still nice to know if a product has it in it. I've sometimes had a reaction to foods which haven't been labelled as containing soya, which has confused me in the past, but maybe it just wasn't labelled. Fortunately, like most soya allergies, mine isn't severe, so it's just a case of avoiding anything I react to in future, but it does make me nervous about trying anything new, whether it's clearly labelled as containing soya or not, as it's in so many products under so many different guises.
As for the actual subject of the thread, I think it's more about taste and branding that has lead to labels specifying sunflower oil as an exclusive oil ingredient, rather than allergy information. Surely cheaper products have always contained a variety of non specified vegetable and seed oils anyway.

Anyone that eats eggs evidently isn't arsed about the welfare of chickens anyway so not sure why it would make a difference as the end product, an egg, is the same.

Well consumers believe they are doing the right thing going for free range and I think a lot didn't realise that for 16 weeks (the flockdown actually ended up longer than that) they were all cooped up inside.

Out of interest, do your sentiments towards people who eat eggs apply to people who keep their own chickens with better welfare standards?

It’s that or throw the food away. It’s the better option to allow the food to make it to the shops with the wrong label for a couple of weeks.

You seem to prefer that food gets wasted and people go hungry rather than a limited, temporary exception be granted.

You are being a bit silly.