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Food allergies/Food intolerance

Some people have an intolerance or allergy to certain foods which means that if they eat that food it can make them ill. There are a range of foods and food ingredients which can cause allergic reactions in some people the most common of which are cow's milk, eggs, soya, wheat, fish, shellfish and nuts.

The Co-operative is committed to helping customers with special dietary needs as follows. Contact the Co-operative's customer relations on 0800 0686 727 for 'free from products' listed below:

Milk Free Diet | Soya Free Diet | Egg Free Diet | Wheat Free Diet | Nut Free Diet | Special Dietary Requirements | Nickel Allergy and Kettles

Allergy labelling

To help customers with food allergies the Co-operative now add an Allergy Advice box under the ingredients list, which highlights the presence of any of the most common allergens, nuts, sesame seeds, eggs, fish, crustacea, molluscs, shellfish, cows milk, gluten or soya will all be shown. If any ingredient or compound product can be linked to one of these allergens (e.g. whey or cheese in the case of milk) then they will be listed too, e.g. 'contains cows milk' will be on foods which contain whey.

Allergy labelling was introduced from spring 2000 on label re-designs and new products. However, it will be some time before this labelling is on all products, so continue to check the ingredients list.

For the most dangerous allergens (nuts and sesame seeds) we also label if there is a danger of cross contamination. Therefore if a product does not contain nuts or sesame seeds, but has been produced in a factory that uses these and there is a danger of cross contamination, this will be indicated by one of the following statements:

PRODUCED IN A FACTORY HANDLING NUTS

PRODUCED IN A FACTORY HANDLING SESAME SEEDS

PRODUCED IN A FACTORY HANDLING NUTS AND SESAME SEEDS

In addition, because young children may develop a nut allergy if they are exposed to an excess of nuts at a very early age, the following wording will be used on certain products:

ALLERGY ADVICE: To help prevent nut allergy, if your family has a history of allergy or asthma, do not eat a lot of nuts when pregnant or breast feeding. Young children should also avoid nuts.

For culinary nuts, the following warning will appear on all packs, due to the slight risk of contamination from other nuts:

ALLERGY ADVICE: May contain minute traces of other nuts.