'May Contain' Labelling

Thursday 13 June 2002

This shopping basket comparison was carried out to test the premise that people with nut allergy take longer to shop, find it difficult to locate, read and believe nut trace contamination information.

The study aimed to:

Focus on nut trace contamination (NTC) labelling
Nuts and peanuts are recognised as the most likely food allergens to trigger serious allergic symptoms. UK manufacturers and retailers who know this may indicate their presence on the packet.

Determine the prevalence of such labelling
In a basket of everyday food items (selected because they do not normally contain nuts as ingredients), 56%indicated a risk of nut trace contamination (71/127 items). The study indicated that nut allergic* consumers are unable to buy a match or substitute for 18%of the items listed. In addition, in many cases, they are forced to accept a substitute or poorer quality product (9%). They take 39%longer to shop and pay 11% more on average.

Examine the variety and style of such labelling
On products examined, ingredient information was allocated an average of 2.6%of the packaging area. Additional allergen information covered an average of 0.53%. Long-established industry guidelines to make labelling clear are often ignored.37%of all products examined (95/254) had key information in poor colour combinations. There is little consistency in labelling style between different retailers or manufacturers. These and other factors make it very difficult for allergic consumers to find and read essential information.

Report on current practice
Biscuits, cereals and confectionery are most commonly cited by nut allergic consumers as those products that are hard to find without nut trace contamination information. Packaging examined often displayed nut trace contamination information which was not always noticed by the shoppers or sorters. Similar allergen warnings on a variety of products may reflect very different degrees of risk to the allergic consumer.

There is confusion among consumers over the status of sesame and coconut as nuts for labelling purposes.

Comment on the allergen risk assessment, management, and communication of different manufacturers and retailers
Some manufacturers and retailers are identifying the risk of nut trace contamination for the first time, and beginning to use warning labels. Others have recognised the problems for allergic consumers and are keen to find 'nut free 'suppliers and remove NTC labels.

Make recommendations
Key recommendations include improved labelling of all ingredients on all foods, clearer allergen information, and support for manufacturers who are determined to remove nuts from their production. In addition it is important to undertake regular reviews of the quality and legibility of all essential information on pre-packed foods. It is important that this work is linked into parallel Food Standards Agency activities.

*For the purposes of this report any reference to nut allergic includes peanut (groundnut)as well as the tree nuts (hazelnuts, brazil, walnuts etc)