Peanut-free turron

Last year I contacted this company: Turrones San Luís and they wrote back to assure me that they do not use peanuts in any of their products, and that their almond supplier deals exclusively with almonds. So, I consider their turrón to be peanut free (though it never hurts to double-check.) Last year I found them in the Club del Gourmet section of El Corte Inglés. I'm sure there are other brands of turrón that are made under similar conditions, but this is the only company I contacted who actually answered me.

Chocolate!

I haven't posted here in a long time-- really, I haven't been thinking much about the allergy, but we are gearing up for a trip to the US and it will suddenly become more of an issue, with peanuts and peanut butter becoming much more common.

For now, I have discovered that Lindt chocolate labels specifically-- instead of just saying "frutos secos" "frutos de cáscara" (basically, "nuts") they specify: May contain traces of almond and hazelnut." Since my child is not allergic to either of those nuts, and they are listed only as traces, not as actual ingredients, I feel comfortable letting him eat the chocolate labelled this way (it's possible that some varieties of Lindt chocolate may list peanut traces, though I haven't yet found any.)

I also noticed that Carte D'or ice cream labels some of their flavours as having possible traces of peanut and other nuts, and other flavours don't carry this warning. It seems worth investigating further to see if these other flavours might actually be peanut safe.

Peanuts in McDonald's food!/ Cacahuete en McDonalds

I read on an allergy board here in Spain that there are peanuts in the breading for the McDonalds Nuggets and for McPollo, their chicken sandwich. Needless to say, I was shocked, since our peanut-allergic son has eaten the nuggets several times with no problem. I know that in the US this is not the case, and I could swear that I checked out the website here before letting him eat at McDonalds. Well, I went to the local McD's website, and unfortunately the application that had the nutrition info would not open on my computer. So, I made the trip to the actual McDonald's near us, and got a hard copy. According to the allergen chart they gave me, the McNuggets and the chicken are listed as !, which means that the allergen may be present and it is not possible to rule out its presence. So basically, it is a "may contain." The only "does contain" for peanuts, aside from the peanut topping, is the M&M McFlurry, and there are no other "may contains" except for the Casear salad with crispy chicken. The sheet was prepared in September 2009, so its possible that they have changed since I first found out about the allergy, but it is still sobering news. Needless to say, McNuggets are off our menu now. The sheet refers people to the website (different address) for updated info: www.mcdonaldsmenu.info. There you can check by country. The UK site, for example, does not list the chicken as a may contain. Now that I've checked, I see that on this site, the Spain information does not, either. So there is a discrepancy between the printed sheet and the website, but for now we'll play it safe. The website is dated 2006, so I'm thinking it's outdated...

Anyway, I thought readers would appreciate the heads up-- though hopefully you are more diligent about checking restaurant information than I was. Big oops.


Hace poco leí en un foro para alérgicos aquí en España que el pollo de McDonalds (nuggets y McPollo) lleva cachuetes en el rebozado. Me ha extrañado mucho, ya que creí haberlo comprobado (sé que en EEUU no lo lleva, pero claro, puede variar por país) y nuestro hijo alérgico ha comido los nuggets muchas veces sin problemas. Para resumir, fui a preguntar en el restaurante más cercano y me dieron una hoja con información nutricional, incluyendo los alérgenos, y sí que pone el pollo como posibles trazas. Los datos de esta hoja fueron actualizados en septiembre 2009, por lo que podría haber cambiado la composición del pollo desde que lo miré al enterarme de la alérgia. En la hoja remiten a otra página web (www.mcdonaldsmenu.info) para información más actualizada, y allí de hecho no pone el pollo como trazas de cacahuete, pero ya con la duda no vamos a arriesgarnos. La página web tiene fecha de 2006, así que los datos más recientes son los que ponen "trazas."

Still looking for peanut-free turrón/ Todavía buscando turrones sin cacahuete

I haven't been to the grocery store in awhile, but tonight, in addition to the recall warning mentioned in the post below, I noticed that Christmas is in full swing-- decorations, promotions, and of course, turrones. I didn't have time to do much checking, but all the ones I checked had a "trazas de otros frutos de cáscara" warning. Which means that unless I contact the manufacturers and find out whether peanut is one of the possible "frutos de cáscara" involved, we have to avoid all of them. I suspect that the commercial brands sold in most supermarkets will not be safe, but I do think there's a chance that some of the more "artesanal" companies might work only with almonds and buy their almonds from a safe source. I will let you know if I find out anything more specific...


Todavía sigo sin encontrar turrones que no lleven el etiquetado de "trazas de otros frutos de cáscara." Como sólo tenemos que evitar cachuetes, tengo esperanzas de encontrar alguna marca que podemos usar (probablemente uno más artesanal), pero tendré que ponerme en contacto con los fabricantes para tener más datos. ¡Ya os avisaré! (Y si alguién conoce alguna, por favor, dímelo!)

Product recall/ retirada de productos de Carrefour

Tonight I saw a sign up at our local supermarket (Carrefour) announcing the recall of some of their products due to unlabelled possible traces of peanut. They are chocolate hazelnut products, so I wouldn't have bought them anyway, but it is heartening that they are informing customers of this oversight and are taking action. I'm hoping that this is indicative of a committment on their part to label their products for traces of peanut (though I'm also hoping that this recall was not prompted by a serious reaction by a PA individual to one of these products...)

Hoy vi el anuncio de retirada de algunos productos de Carrefour debido a la posible presencia no-etiquetada de trazas de cachuete. Son productos de crema de chocolate y avellanas-- abajo pego el texto del aviso para que lo podáis leer. Espero que esto indica un compromiso serio por su parte de etiquetar todas las posibles trazas de cacahuete en sus productos (y también que nadie hay tenido una reacción grave a causa de uno de estos productos):

Centros Comerciales Carrefour informa a sus clientes:

Ante la posible presencia de trazas de Cacahuete en los siguientes productos de marca Carrefour:

* - Sticks 3 x 53 g (crema avellanas y palitos de pan) EAN 3560070167920
* - Crema para untar con avellanas 750 g envase de vidrio EAN 3560070273881
* - Crema para untar con avellanas 750 g (2 sabores) envase de vidrio EAN 3560070273874
* - Crema al cacao 240 g envase de vidrio EAN 8431876099362
* - Crema untar dos sabores 240 g envase de vidrio EAN 8431876112733

Centros Comerciales Carrefour ha retirado de la venta estos artículos y ha decidido comunicar a sus clientes que por precaución los artículos mencionados no deben ser consumidos por personas alérgicas al cacahuete.

El resto de la población puede consumirlos con total tranquilidad.

Los clientes que lo deseen pueden solicitar la devolución del importe de la compra de estos productos en su hipermercado o supermercado habitual.

PARA CUALQUIER CONSULTA PUEDEN PONERSE EN CONTACTO CON NOSOTROS EN NUESTRO TELEFONO DE ATENCION AL CLIENTE 902 20 20 00 o A TRAVÉS DE LA PAGINA WEB

Les rogamos disculpas por las molestias que podamos ocasionarles y les agradecemos su colaboración.

Muchas gracias

Madrid, 27 de Octubre de 2009

Conguitos and other chocolate/ Conguitos y otros chocolates

This popular candy (I post the picture so you will recognize it, though it is offensive-- let me just say that this is the updated, "politically correct" version of the packaging, and leave it at that) is chocolate covered peanuts. They have a white chocolate version as well.

Not, of course, that a peanut-allergic person would be likely to purchase candy without carefully checking the label (and incidentally, none of the regularly-available brands of chocolate sold here are free of nut traces, though many may only have almond or hazelnut traces,) but it's good to be aware of it if other people around you are eating them or if your PA toddler encounters the abandoned wrapper at a park etc.


Then there is this chocolate, which contains ground hazelnuts even in the plain milk chocolate form.

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Cuelgo esta foto de un dulce popular (Conguitos) que se compone de cacahuetes cubiertos de chocolate (también hay una versión en chocolate blanco.) Aunque la gente con alergía al cacahuete no suele comprar dulces sin leer el etiquetado, es posible que alguien a tu lado los come (como nos pasó en nuestro vuelo a EEUU) o que un niño alérgico encuentre el papel abandonado en el parque, etc.

También avisar que los chocolates Milka contienen avellana molida, aún en la versión normal de chocolate con leche.

Horchata-- what is a tiger nut, anyway? /Horchata--- ¿qué exactamente es una chufa?

Summer in Spain means the arrival of horchata, a creamy, delicious drink made from ground tiger nuts. I was going to post a warning about how this drink is not the same as the horchata made in Mexico and Mexican restaurants, which is rice-based, but then I did a bit of research and discovered that the main component is not a nut at all but the tuber of a tropical plant. My PA son has had some of this drink with no problem (obviously each person is different, but that has been our experience.)

However, I did see that there is a version made with hazlenuts (avellana), which I suspect is not very common, but you can always ask to make sure that you are getting horchata de chufas.

One thing to watch out for is anything that has the word "turrón." This is an almond-based candy that is a popular flavor in ice creams and other desserts. Speaking of ice cream, from what I hear, the only safe packaged ice cream-type treat for PA here is Calippo made by Frigo. I have contacted the company to double-check and I will post the response when I get it.

And as always, I'd love to hear from anyone dealing with peanut/ tree nut allergies here in Spain or elsewhere!

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Iba a avisar sobre la horchata, ya que la versión de aquí no es de arroz como en latinoamérica sino de chufas, los cuales se denominan "tiger nuts" en inglés, o "nueces de tigre." Sin embargo, he averiguado que la chufa es un tubérculo, y no un fruto seco, y por lo tanto se puede tomar, y de hecho mi hijo alérgico lo ha probabdo sin problema (claro, cada person es distinta, pero eso ha sido nuestra experiencia.)

También he oído sobre los helados que el único seguro para esta alérgia (en cuanto a los productos comerciales más habituales) es el Calippo de Frigo. He enviado un correo a la companía para comprobarlo, y avisaré de la respuesta cuando la reciba.

Y como siempre, me encantaría contactar con otros que viven con la alergía a cacahuete/ frutos secos aquí en España!

Aspitos

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this product, it is a salty snack made from corn, in the shape of sticks that come two to a package. It's popular because it's widely available in the places where treats are sold, it's cheap (usually around 0.10€), and while it boasts of absolutely no redeeming nutritional value, it is also unlikely to spoil your child's appetite for a real meal, since it's mostly air. It's also soft and quickly dissolves in your mouth so it is easy for young children to eat.

Because I want to be prepared with some safe snack alternatives (and because they are so popular he is likely to have them offered to him), I checked these out as an option for my PA child. So I checked the ingredients (cornmeal, sunflower oil, salt) and went to the product website to see what other kinds of snacks this company produces and whether they say anything about cross-contamination or traces.

Well, the opening page lets you choose English or Spanish, and from the main page you can select "Nutrition" and there is a downloadable PDF with allergen information, which identifies separately traces/cross-contamination and actual ingredients. (Note: apparently the allergen list is in Spanish only.) The verdict? While some of their products are marked to contain possible traces of peanuts and tree nuts, the Aspitos and several other products are listed as not having traces of these ingredients. So, that's one more thing I can add to my list of safe foods!

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Bueno, supongo que todos conceréis los Aspitos... Fui a su página web para comprobar si había trazas de cacahuete o frutos secos en los Aspitos (ingredientes: sémola de maíz, aceite de girasol, sal.) En el apartado "Nutrición" pùedes descargar un pdf sobre los productos y varios alergenos, indicando la presencia de éstos tanto como ingrediente como trazas. Sí que había productos con posibles trazas de cacahuete y frutos secos, pero toda la gama de los famosos Aspitos aparece como libre de los mismos.

Galletas Gullón

This company has been my choice for galletas maría ever since I wrote to them a few years ago and they confirmed to me that they didn't use partially hydrogenated oils (oh, the good old days when that was my major concern!) It seems they have come out with several new products since then so I don't know if that still holds true for everything, but they responded very quickly to my allergy-related query on May 28th. I asked specifically about their galletas María and María integral, since we had some in the house but I had thrown away the boxes. Apparently, neither of those cookies contain peanuts or tree nuts as ingredients or traces. They also went on to specify a series of cookies that are free of various allergens and are tested for allergens before they are released to the market. You can find them on the Gullón webpage (click on "Noticias.")

Note, however, that some of their other products do contain traces of nuts, and are labelled to reflect that-- I noticed this on the box of both the Creme Integral and the O2 Magic cookies I had bought earlier in the week.

Esta compania respondió rápidamente a mi pregunta sobre las galletas María y María integral (es la marca que consumimos, y las tenía en casa pero sin los embalajes originales.) Confirmaron que ninguna de las dos llevaban cacahuete ni frutos secos como ingredientes ni como trazos. También me señalaron unos productos suyos que pasan un control más estricto y están libres de varios alergenos comunes, además de ser testados para la presencia de estos alergenos antes de liberarse al mercado. Se puede consultar cuales son estos productos en su página web, pinchando en el enlace de "Noticias."

Sin embargo, algunos productos suyos sí pueden contener trazas de frutos secos, y así lo refleja el etiquetado-- lo vi en las cajas de Creme Integral y O2 Magic, que había comprado unos días antes.

Nestle baby foods/ Nestle comida para bebes

I contacted Nestle España's baby food division on May 26th, because I had some questions about their labeling practices and ingredients. They got back to me within a couple of hours with a polite, detailed email that answered all of my questions. I'll paste it below, but basically they said that they label for traces and possible cross-contamination as well as for actual ingredients. They also answered more specific questions about different products, but I won't bother to post that part-- I encourage anyone who has specific questions to ask them directly. As I mentioned, their response was very prompt and thorough.

El día 26 de mayo escribí a Nestle bebé para preguntar sobre su práctica de etiquetado para alergenos. En resumen, sí que etiquetan trazas y posible contaminación cruzada en sus productos. Abajo pego su respuesta, menos algunas cosas muy concretas que había preguntado yo-- como dieron una respuesta tan completa y rápida (dentro de un par de horas) animo a que preguntáis directamente si tenéis dudas más específicas.

Correspondiendo a su reciente e-mail, le informamos que, con el fin de proporcionar una mayor información al consumidor, hemos considerado oportuno indicar en la lista de ingredientes del etiquetado de todos nuestros productos no sólo la información en función de los ingredientes añadidos sino también la posibilidad de presencia de trazas de determinadas sustancias tales como leche, frutos secos, huevo, gluten, soja, etc., que podrían estar presentes por contacto cruzado en línea de producción.

En el caso de los frutos secos, declaramos su presencia con la mención del ingrediente específico (amendras, avellanas, nueces, etc...) o indicando al final de la lista de ingredientes trazas de frutos secos.

Por el contrario, si en la relación de ingredientes de la etiqueta no aparece ninguna de estas menciones, significa que el producto está exento de frutos secos.