17
Jun
Products Recalled: Easter egg hunt bag recalled
The Card Factory’s Happy Easter Eggs hunt bags weighing 198 grams (about 6.98 oz), with a best–before date of January 2024, have been recalled since they may contain various allergens like gluten containing cereals, eggs, and nuts.
Problem
- The Happy Easter Egg Hunt bag has been recalled by the Card Factory due to the absence of English labels for milk, peanuts, and soy. According to the company’s risk statement, it may also contain gluten containing cereals, eggs, and nuts.
- Anyone allergic to milk, peanuts, soy, eggs and nuts and those sensitive to gluten may experience health risks if they consume the product.
- The company has recalled the product from the consumers and issued a statement explaining the reason behind the recall and what must be done if a consumer has purchased the product. Additionally, relevant allergy support organisations were contacted by the firm, who will explain to their members about the product recall [1].
Scientific Evidence:
- Food allergy (FA) is an unpleasant reaction to a specific food antigen, which is generally harmless to the healthy population, that is mediated by immunological systems and occurs in a sensitive individual.
- FA was earlier considered a pediatric disease that occurs in childhood. However, with an increase in the adult population and lifestyle changes, there is an increase in the burden of food allergies in adults as well.
- The clinical manifestations of food allergies can vary from mild discomfort to anaphylaxis, which can be life-threatening. Milk, soy, eggs and nuts are the most common food allergens [2].
- Gluten, present in wheat, barley and rye, may cause symptoms like abdominal pain, vomiting or diarrhoea, which may be intermittent or chronic in Individuals with Coeliac disease and gluten sensitivity. Therefore, they are advised to adhere to a gluten-free diet [3].
What Regulations Clarifies:
- According to the Food Standards Agency, a food business must provide information about allergens on its product label.
- The allergen information must be present on prepackaged and non-prepacked food products.
- Fourteen allergens that include gluten-containing cereals, eggs, celery, crustaceans, fish, milk, lupin, sesame, soybeans, tree nuts, mustard, peanuts, sulphur dioxide and sulphites and molluscs must be emphasised on the product label [4].