Celery allergy
Are you looking for celery-free foods, such as sauces, stocks and yeast extracts? Celery is one of the ‘big 14’ food allergens, which must always be labelled and highlighted in the EU, and likewise celeriac — the root of a…
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Author Archive: admin
On vegans, coeliacs and Starbucks
Veganism is having a moment. And it’s Veganuary — or vegan January — too. So, because it’s on a high, it’s evidently got too big for its boots. Time to give it a good kicking, right? Here’s Yasmin Alibhai-Brown’s opinion piece in…
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Allergens: the big 8, the big 14
That there are eight major allergens in the United States and fourteen major allergens in the United Kingdom and EU can cause problems to those with food hypersensitivities on both sides of the Atlantic — either when visiting one another’s…
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Hotel Chocolat’s free from lip service
Free From Heaven magazine has announced a competition to win a Hotel Chocolat ‘No gluten recipe gift box’. They say: Indulge your sweet tooth this Christmas with a luxurious hamper filled with gluten-free* chocolates. Follow that asterisk to the footnote…
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Hair dye tests
Research was published in Contact Dermatitis looking at the instructions hair dye manufacturers give consumers about performing an allergy self-test before coloring their hair. It was a follow-on from a 2011 study, which found great variability in the instructions given, and whose…
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Histamine sensitivity
Histamine is a component of foods — rather than an ingredient, per se — and histamine sensitivity is not an allergy, but as it can mimic an allergy, it’s often perceived to be one. Histamine is released in the body…
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Gluten free oats: labelled an allergen or not?
Two years ago I wrote about why all oats — be they gluten free oats or ordinary oats — are considered allergens in law and must be highlighted on ingredients labels. If you need a refresher, click here. Back then,…
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Are oats good for eczema?
Ask the internet this question and you’ll be presented with a long list of positive answers — of course oats are great for the skin and for problem skin conditions such as eczema, everyone declares. Use skin creams with oats…
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Marks and Spencer
Marks and Spencer’s online allergy and intolerance information and ‘free from’ food lists are excellent. Here is the Gluten Free page. It gives immediate mention and priority to coeliac disease, from which many supermarkets and brands would do well to…
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14 Allergens Free Brands and Products
There’s a page on this website — 14 Allergens Free Foods — dedicated to brands which only offer products free from all 14 EU-specified food allergens (as well as a few brands who only use one or two allergens at…
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