Talking Allergies

OK, is it too much to ask that you name the specific vegetable oils? Oh, pardon me...apparently it is tooooo difficult!
But when I call the 1-800 number and the very nice customer service representative is very quick to offer that it's sunflower oil. That's it; that's all! No long list of possible oils that might vary in order depending on the climate, traffic on the highways or the whim of R&D.

One ingredient! Sunflower oil!

V-E-G-E-T-A-B-L-E 9 letters
S-U-N-F-L-O-W-E-R 9 letters

It's not like you're saving any ink there! Tell me what I need to know or I will not purchase your product!!!

OK, rant over.

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb

Yeah, that doesn't make an ounce of sense!
Why can't they just be up front about it???

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Married mom of 4 living children and a baby girl in Heaven.
Between myself, my husband, and our children we have way too many allergies to list.

These companies "need" to cover their A$$ES by listing vegetable oil as the ingredient because at this moment Sunflower oil may be what is used but depending on the market, another (less expensive) vegetable oil will be used.

I hear you!!!! "vegetable' oil as an ingredient drives me insane!... Tell us what it is!-I would save a fortune on phone calls to manufacturers!
caz

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twin boys-
c-eosinophilic oesophagitis
j-avoids peanut, sunflower, pineapple all ana-sensitised to maccadaemia.pecan.Passed barley (previous ana) last year...out grew egg ana and peanut at 3 years..became re sensitised with ana at 6 years to peanut.

Caz-use the store courtesy phone.

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb

but I think they hide them out of the publics view here in australia-lol!...

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twin boys-
c-eosinophilic oesophagitis
j-avoids peanut, sunflower, pineapple all ana-sensitised to maccadaemia.pecan.Passed barley (previous ana) last year...out grew egg ana and peanut at 3 years..became re sensitised with ana at 6 years to peanut.

I am so with you. I have been away from this board for a while (too long, if you ask me) and what made me come back is exactly this.

It all started when I wanted to buy a bag of chips. Lays's chips has vegetable oil listed has their ingredient a long time ago, then switch to sunflower, back to vegetable, back to sunflower and are now back to vegetable. Given all the non sense, I emailed them and they told me that ALL their product are made with a mix of sunflower and corn oil.

Most chips contain sunflower oil now anyway. So I saw this new product by Kellogs, the special K cracker chips. Beeing the paranoid freak that I am, I decided to email them before I buy the product. It turned out they also use a mix of sunflower oi and soybean oil.

Shouln't there be a law forcing companies to disclose what kind of oil they use? What if they decided to "hide" peanut oil in there. With all my allergies and now gastro-intestinal reflux and other digestive problems, the list of what I can eat is growing thiner every day. Now, I will have to cut ouf everything that says "vegetable oil"!!!

It drives me off the wall. Or as my wife says, incandescent with rage.

Are companies waiting for a lawsuit to actually write what is in their products?

My wife always complain that I don't like to try new product and with good reasons.

Really, what can we do?

Personally, I contact the company to ask what type of oil is used. Then I tell the CS person how I feel and why. I also ask to file a formal complaint about it. I think if we all did that often enough, we might make a blip on their radar.

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb

Good idea. Formal complaint will be made this week.

YoungVader - welcome back!

I hear you guys. The 'vegetable' catch-all is beyond annoying. And I've got the soy issue like Vader to worry about.

However, I believe if its an actual ingredient, it now has to be covered under the new labeling rules which take effect Aug. 4, 2012. Or at least it certainly should be.

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/label-etiq ... ex-eng.php

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Allergic to soy, peanut, shellfish, penicillin

Drives me crazy!! As does 'natural flavours', they shouldn't be allowed to be unspecific!

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DSs 7,7,9 all PA

Frito Lay called me back after my complaint to tell me that the sunflower oil they use has been heated up, therefore killing the proteint that could trigger an allergic reaction. I'm not sure about that, but I made them react.

Kraft also sent me a letter saying that if they use sunflower oil, they will declared it. Vegetable oil for Kraft include Corn oil, Cotton, Safflower and Rapeseed (Colza). So for Kraft, unless you are allergic to those, you are safe. No sunflower in vegtable for Kraft.

I'm rattling the cages

Ok...so you cant 'Kill' a protien-its not like a germ that is killed by heat. Many protiens (like egg, milk) are deactivated and beceome less potent after heating but many of them also become more potent.

Sunflower oil doesnt have the extensive testing that has occured with peanut (many peanut oils are regarded as suitable for those with peanut allergy...depending on individual circumstances...) but the same research hasnt occured with sunflower.

For what its worth my son HAS had an inpatient food challenge to sunflower oil and it was a dismal fail with facial swelling and full body rash (no anaphylaxis but enough to see that its not for him). Sunflower at least here (australia) doesnt have mandatory labelling and as said in previous posts , veg. oil is a more common term so they can say $$ by not having to relabel each time they change the type of oil (sunflower, canola, safflower are often used depending on what is cheapest at the time).

......but how do you know if they have changed this policy between now when you use it and in 6 months time?
We have been dealing with sunflower allergy for nearly 5 yrs now and I still phone on a regular basis many companies that have said the same....and-surprise, suprise....they DO change their ingredients. Just be careful is all Im saying because ultimately if its not labelled specifically then they can change it without advertising it.

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twin boys-
c-eosinophilic oesophagitis
j-avoids peanut, sunflower, pineapple all ana-sensitised to maccadaemia.pecan.Passed barley (previous ana) last year...out grew egg ana and peanut at 3 years..became re sensitised with ana at 6 years to peanut.

For Kraft, the letter says that not only to they mention the 10 most common allergens required by law but it is also company policy to mention sunflower, celeri, poppy seeds and cotton.

Fair enough -thats good to know

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twin boys-
c-eosinophilic oesophagitis
j-avoids peanut, sunflower, pineapple all ana-sensitised to maccadaemia.pecan.Passed barley (previous ana) last year...out grew egg ana and peanut at 3 years..became re sensitised with ana at 6 years to peanut.