Anyone with a nut/peanut allergy needs to read this

[Thumbwitch]

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/new-food-scandal-over-peanuts-is-more-serious-than-the-horsemeat-crisis-10045725.html

According to the article, the partial failure of the cumin crop has led to cumin being "bulked out" with almond and peanut, mostly shells, but some nut protein could be included. This isn't being listed in the ingredients, so is extremely dangerous for people with severe nut allergies.

Avoiding overt cumin will be relatively easy, but avoiding cumin in foodstuffs where you might not expect it could be very tricky!

Hope no one is adversely affected by it.

[Thumbwitch]

No peanut allergy sufferers in MN?

[AuditAngel]

Very interesting, will let my aunt know.

[bananaandcustard]

plenty of nut allergic people on MN !

quite commonly almond flour used in indian restaurants has had peanut flour in due to cost of almonds. Deaths have been the result.

The adding of nuts to cumin is a concern, and certainly will be avoiding cumin powder and advising my son to be very cautious as he has a peanut allergy.

[Thumbwitch]

Bumping again for the night people...

[hiddenhome]

You'd be better off putting this in Chat. Not everyone reads the News section.

[Patilla]

Oh gosh that's terrible I'll warn friends with allergies.

[FourAndDone]

Another bump, very scary!

[Thumbwitch]

Things get lost in chat very quickly, which is why I put it here - but I might ask MNHQ if they'd care to sticky it for me. :)

[Koalafications]

I'm don't suffer from a peanut allergy but bumping for those that do

[BunnyFint]

Ds1 has a severe peanut allergy, his school caterers have said they don't use nuts at all but I'm still wary, he is in year one so should be entitled to free meals until he moves up to KS2 despite this he takes a packed lunch. I just couldn't trust their 'assurances'.

I'm so glad he has packed lunches, there are a couple of other children who also have severe nut allergy in his year, I'm going to let them know, thank you for posting this, I dread to think what could have happened if DS1 had eaten nut contaminated food whilst in school, his first reaction was to a smear of peanut butter on his lips this caused an anaphylaxis.

Scary.

[slightlysnippy]

Thanks for posting this OP. I never saw this in the news, and with a DD with a severe nut allergy its important info i should be aware of.

[Givenupontidying]

Allergy UK have this on their website about it - www.allergyuk.org/news/latest-news/post/186-undeclared but I guess they can only react to reported cases, so it isn't entriely reassuring that more products won't be discovered to have been affected.

[ScottishDiblet]

Thank you for posting this.

[BonzoDooDah]

This is shocking.

[TheOldestCat]

Thanks for this. I'm allergic to nuts (incl. almonds) and have had email alerts form the Anaphylaxis Campaign about the fajita seasoning. Hadn't realised the further implications though, so cheers. Will be on high alert!

[SallySolomon]

Bloody hell, that's disgusting!

[EpicBlue]

Cumin is in so many things, pizza, bread and it's almost impossible not to come across it :(

[AdoraBell]

Thanks for posting OP, while it doesn't effect me I have a friend who needs this info.

[100redballoons]

Thanks for posting Thumbwitch, and to all who bumped. My (adult) daughter's allergic to peanuts & other nuts, & this might just explain a couple of unexpected reactions recently.

[whatsagoodusername]

Thanks for posting.

[irrepressibleRedhead]

Ugh, what a nightmare.

[SallySolomon]

I think this should be made a sticky so that as many people as possible are aware.

[StrumpersPlunkett]

Thanks for posting this. It is more common than we think.
Just before Christmas most supermarkets took ground almonds off the shelf because it turned out they were using a mix of peanut and almonds! I was so thankful we didn't have any as ds2 is allergic and I was making large quantities of Christmas cakes!