Talking Allergies

I cannot be 100% sure but I suspect there's peanut by-product/cross contamination in the "Peanut-free Coffee Crisp" that I ate tonight.

This is what happened. I am really worried...

Before dinner, I had a "Snack size" Coffee Crisp that came in one of those supposedly "Peanut-free" with the peanut free logo package of snack size Nestle Favourites. I am not allergic to peanut but dd is. I kiss dd on her lips right before dinner. After 20 minutes or so, dd had hives around her mouth. An hour has passed now and the hives seem to have gone. We are still monitoring her carefully. I am quite sure that it's not anything she had for dinner as she has eaten them all before and never had a problem. I made all the food from scratch and there's not a chance of cross-contamination as our home is now totally peanut free. At least I thought until now....

This package contains Kit Kat, Coffee Crisp, Smarties, and Aero. I just checked the labelling and everything seems fine except for Coffee Crisp. It contains "Modified Palm and Vegetable oils"!!! No specifics on the kind of vegetable oils!!! I didn't read the label when I first bought it less than a month ago because I thought it's peanut free and assumed to be safe(what a mistake!).

I would suggest anyone who has allergy to peanut stop eating these chocolate bars just to be safe.

I have contacted CFIA but I guess will have to wait until the morning to get a response.

PAmum -- you'll find a discussion on labelling in another thread on this forum...AnnaMarie shared the following::

That must have been pretty scary -- could it have been a reaction to another ingredient that she has suddenly developed a sensitivity to? From what I've read about Nestle's snack size bars, they are manufactured in a completely different plant than their other nut/peanut containing chocolate bars...could it have been a reaction to a lipstick or chapstick you might have been wearing at the time -- someone else in this forum has spoken about nut oils in these products -- ? I hope you get some answers soon! Please let us know how the CFIA responds to you.

I definitely do not think it could be a Nestle product that is labeled *peanut free* causing a peanut reaction.

However....I would suggest you call them. Tell them what you think happened - and have the product code handy. When a customer complains about a specific problem, the company can often pull one of the same product code to have it tested. They should also be able to tell whether or not there is any chance peanut oil is part of the vegetable oil. (I don't believe it is - but you need to hear that from them, not me. )

Nestle takes this labelling very seriously.

If it's not vegetable oils, could it be human mistake causing contamination? like an employee ate a PB sandwich before going to work? I don't know, I certainly hope not. But allergies could be tricky, so many unknown, so hard to pinpoint sometimes....

ethansmom, you did point out a few good points that I thought really hard on. And no, i didn't wear any lipstick or chapstick or even makeup yesterday at all. So it couldn't have been that. I didn't eat anything in the whole afternoon until just before dinner... the chocolate bar, and same go for dd and dh.

Of course it's possible that dd developed a sensitivity to a new food that we don't know of. But I was just following my instinct as a mother, since what she ate for dinner last night she has eaten before with no problem. So it was logical at the time for me to think that the culprit would be the "peanut-free" labelled chocolate bar since dd is PA. Now, I really hope it's not, otherwise it would be a big problem. But for my and everyone's sake, I don't mind CFIA doing a test on the product so we know it's not that. I do agree with you AnnaMarie that Nestle takes labelling very seriously, and I do trust them. But human is human, the possibility is there.

We checked on dd almost every hour last night to make sure she's ok. And she is, no more reaction thankfully. I can't believe this is happening again so soon since dd's first reaction last month. We haven't even gone to the allergist yet(appt booked for March) and we have been trying very hard to change our lifestyles to make sure dd is safe.

CFIA did return my call. The lady I spoke to was very helpful. An inspector will be coming by to pick up the wrapper for testing.

Wow -- that's fantastic. I had no idea they would respond like that. I guess given the seriousness of the situation they would have to respond so quickly. I'm glad that you're daughter is doing well. Please keep us posted.

They have come to collect the sample, less than 3 hours since I spoke to the lady. I am quite impressed by the promptness of response. Now we just have to wait for the results. Will keep you all posted.

PAmom - did they tell you they would get back to you? A few years ago I called CFIA, and someone arrived the same day to pick up a sample. (It wasn't about cross-contam. it was a canned product that had gone bad. 6 cans of it. ) I was told they would NOT get back to me. He was very clear that if I planned to sue the company, I would need to keep a sample myself for that. (I wasn't interested in sueing - I just wanted any remaining cans removed from stores.)

Regarding Nestle peanut-free products....I checked their web-site hoping to confirm this, but it isn't there. I'm pretty sure employees that work in the peanut-free facilities are not allowed to eat peanutbutter.

My husband used to work as a contract worker, and there were several companies that had signs at the entrance *no peanut products allowed*. Some of those companies put *may contain* warnings on products at risk, and so they don't want any risk to the products that don't contain that warning. (I hope that's clear enough to understand.) Since Nestle goes further and actually PROMISES peanut free, I think they don't allow it in their facility either. But, as I said, I couldn't find confirmation of that on their web-site.

Got a call from the inspector on the case today. He's in contact with officials in Ontario about this investigation since Nestle's production is over there. Meanwhile, they will be testing samples here to see if anything comes up. So far the impression I got from them is quite impressive, I don't recall any other government officials I have ever dealt with being so polite and responsive about what they do.

I contacted the Quebec version of the CFIA 2 years ago and had great service too. They pick up the sample, run tests, visit the plant, run tests on those and get back to you at almost every step of the process! It's really great!

Question for PAmum: you are dealing with reactions that are pretty recent... have you cleaned out all your flour containers, etc. and started fresh from the time of the allergy? When I first started to react to milk, one of my reactions was traced back to a flour or sugar (it's been a few years ) container that I had not cleaned out and refilled since my reaction and I had cross-contamination issue with it as I do a lot of baking (even back then) and measuring cups and all were all over the kitchen and containers as I didn't worry about cross-contamination at that point. Just a thought.

Hope you find your answer.

Mylène

Another thought---PA mom, did you check the ingredients of your lipstick/lip gloss/lip balm if you happened to be wearing any? Almond oil and especially macademia nut oils are often used....that could easily cause a reaction like what you described. Also, did you eat anything with nuts/peanuts during the day? I've heard that reactions from kisses can occur hours after the offending protein was eaten---even brushing one's teeth sometimes doesn't prevent a reaction.

Maybe it was the coffee crisp....but I just thought I'd throw a few more ideas out there just in case it's not!

It's good to hear that the CFIA took the situation seriously---this restores my faith in them (which was somewhat shaken after I contacted them this summer---in this case, there was *no question* of labelling problems. The wrong ingredient list (Canadian labelling) was slapped on over the correct list of ingredients on the box. It took them forever to get back to me, and they eventually entered the info. into the data base. What they did with that info., apparently was top secret.) I should have contacted them when I had a reaction to a cereal---but I didn't bother on account of my last experience!

I got the alert from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency so I assume it's the result from PAmum's case. Good work!

I know Gwen posted the alert in Allergies in the News but I'm also going to repost it in Peanut Allergies.

PAmum -- I'm guessing the Nestle recall is as a result of your experience. I'm so glad you trusted your gut on this one! Thanks for pursuing it - you've helped keep my son safe! (as well as countless others ). I hope Nestle will publicize how the bars were contaminated with peanut -- it's very unsettling. I know we're dealing with humans and human error - but if you can't trust a company that prides itself on printing its "peanut free" promise and logo on its label, what can you trust?

Hi all -

Just FYI - an update from Anaphylaxis Canada:

Anaphylaxis Canada has been in contact with Nestle about this issue. AC is going to keep abreast of this case and will facilitate any forthcoming communication from Nestle. They agree that Nestle needs to provide an explanation and describe what has been done to rectify the situation.
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I will forward any info I get about this. Obviously it's very upsetting to those of us who trusted these products to be peanut and nut free. I am personally confused as I called Nestle just the other day and was assured that the facility that makes these p/n-free products is totally p/n free!

Of course, it could be a problem with a supplier... but this is just guessing. We'll have to wait to find out what the cause was.

K.

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Karen, proud Mom of
- DS1 (12 yrs): allergic to cashews, pistachios, Brazil nuts, potatoes, some legumes, some fish, pumpkin seeds; OAS
- DS2 (1o yrs): ana. to dairy, eggs, peanuts; asthma

Does anyone know the protocol of a recall? (Either the gov't or Nestle)

Is this recall the result of tests? Or is it a precaution until they get the results?

The actual recall states *may contain* and doesn't say that it does contain. My assumption would be that if they tested for Peanut and it came back positive the rcall would say *contains* instead. Again though - this is what I assumed by reading it.

I do agree though, it is scary when we trusted these suppliers to be p/n free and something like this happens. I'm happy that they took PAmum's call so seriously.