[OT] Food labelling

Quoted message said:

Coffee and toast for breakfast this morning.
I read the butter wrapper - "Contains Milk"
I despair...

I don't...

It's amazing how ignorant the public are about the
ingredients/sources of the food that they eat. I wouldn't
be surprised if the labelling was adopted to fend off
potential law suits from lactose intolerant consumers
chasing a quick buck.

A packet of cashews labelled 'contains nuts' takes
things one step further :-)

vernon said:

A packet of cashews labelled 'contains nuts' takes
things one step further :-)

You're going to see more of that. New food labelling laws coming in
require that if something contains any of a specified list of known
high-risk allergens, it must be explicitly stated on the label.

The list includes nuts, so a packet of cashews will indeed be labelled
'contains nuts', by law. However, that's not all that strange - it
has had to have a label that says 'ingredients: cashew nuts' for some
time. It just has it in two places now.

The new labelling laws are a good thing because at the moment there
are assorted loopholes that can let dangerous allergens through. For
example, if a food is made from another processed food, but the other
one is less than 10% of the total, they can just list the processed
food. That makes more sense as an example - a slice of cheesecake
with a biscuit crumb base could simply list "biscuit crumbs" in the
ingredients. The manufacturer need not specify what was in the
biscuits. They might have been digestives, but they might have been
peanut cookies. This is significant if you are allergic to peanuts.

The new laws will let the example cheesecake continue to just say
"biscuit crumbs" in the ingredients, but if the biscuits contained
nuts, will have to have a "contains nuts" label as well.

At least, as I understand it, that's how it's supposed to work. No
doubt by the time the government and the manufacturers lobby have
been at the regulations, they will have degenerated to something
useless yet intrusive and farcical.

(Btw, anyone read a mars bar ingredients recently - apparently they
now contain peanuts, and twix have almonds (or some other nut, I
forget exactly) in. This is bollocks, they don't, but presumably it's
an [censored]-covering exercise in case one does by accident.)

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

vernon said:

A packet of cashews labelled 'contains nuts' takes
things one step further :-)

More disturbing was a packet of peanuts marked "may contain nuts".
"May"? I'll be taking it back if it doesn't!

Jon

Jon Senior said:

More disturbing was a packet of peanuts marked "may contain nuts".
"May"? I'll be taking it back if it doesn't!

That's right!

So many people get this wrong. 'May' is asking for permission. 'Might' is
the operative word.

Jon Senior <jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOT_co_DOT_uk>typed

Quoted message said:

vernon said:

A packet of cashews labelled 'contains nuts' takes
things one step further :-)

Quoted message said:

More disturbing was a packet of peanuts marked "may contain nuts".
"May"? I'll be taking it back if it doesn't!

So you should, but WHY did my Snickers ice cream have 'may contain
almonds' in 10 languages and no obvious reference to the peanuts it DID
contain?

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email hidden]
Edgware.

In article said:

vernon said:

A packet of cashews labelled 'contains nuts' takes
things one step further :-)

More disturbing was a packet of peanuts marked "may contain nuts".
"May"? I'll be taking it back if it doesn't!

Peanuts aren't actually true nuts. If you are allergic to nuts but not
peanuts then knowing whether the production line might let the occasional
trace of nut into the peanuts is important.

But mostly it's just that it's easier to write and enforce a law that
says "these allergens must be listed" than one that says "these allergens
must be listed, except where it's obvious you needn't bother".

Helen Deborah Vecht said:

Jon Senior <jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOT_co_DOT_uk>typed

Quoted message said:

vernon said:

A packet of cashews labelled 'contains nuts' takes
things one step further :-)

Quoted message said:

More disturbing was a packet of peanuts marked "may contain nuts".
"May"? I'll be taking it back if it doesn't!

So you should, but WHY did my Snickers ice cream have 'may contain
almonds' in 10 languages and no obvious reference to the peanuts it DID
contain?

I feel a lawsuit coming on. There was no warning this morning on my
milk carton that it may contain milk (or maybe butter or cheese)

--
Tony

"I did make a mistake once - I thought I'd made a mistake but I hadn't"
Anon

John Hearns said:

Coffee and toast for breakfast this morning.
I read the butter wrapper - "Contains Milk"
I despair...

Making a cheese sandwich at lunchtime. Noticed the cheese wrapper -
"Contains milk" Well thats a relief.

Stan Cox

Stan Cox said:

John Hearns said:

Coffee and toast for breakfast this morning.
I read the butter wrapper - "Contains Milk"
I despair...

Making a cheese sandwich at lunchtime. Noticed the cheese wrapper -
"Contains milk" Well thats a relief.

The label on the jar of orange marmalade in my fridge informs me that
the contents are kosher, vegetarian, and gluten free. I could never
have guessed.

--
Måns Rullgård
[email hidden]

Måns Rullgård said:

Stan Cox said:

John Hearns said:

Coffee and toast for breakfast this morning.
I read the butter wrapper - "Contains Milk"
I despair...

Making a cheese sandwich at lunchtime. Noticed the cheese wrapper -
"Contains milk" Well thats a relief.

The label on the jar of orange marmalade in my fridge informs me that
the contents are kosher, vegetarian, and gluten free. I could never
have guessed.

Had it been passed by the Chief Rabbi?

--
Tony

"I did make a mistake once - I thought I'd made a mistake but I hadn't"
Anon

"Måns Rullgård" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

The label on the jar of orange marmalade in my fridge informs me that
the contents are kosher, vegetarian, and gluten free. I could never
have guessed.

Which reminds me that cheese doritos aren't vegetarian, but the beef and
onion, prawn cocktail, roast chicken and smoky bacon crisps are.

cheers,
clive

"Saxman" <john.h.williams(removethis)@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Jon Senior said:

More disturbing was a packet of peanuts marked "may contain nuts".
"May"? I'll be taking it back if it doesn't!

That's right!

So many people get this wrong. 'May' is asking for permission. 'Might'
is
the operative word.

Bollocks, this isnt France with use of 'Le Weekend' or some other
non-approved word or phrase making you liable for a fine. Languages change,
English perhaps more than most, and 'may' may or might also be used to mean
'might'.

--
Tumbleweed

email replies not necessary but to contact use;
tumbleweednews at hotmail dot com

Tumbleweed said:

Bollocks, this isnt France with use of 'Le Weekend' or some other
non-approved word or phrase making you liable for a fine. Languages change,
English perhaps more than most, and 'may' may or might also be used to mean
'might'.

may
¡X USAGE When expressing or asking permission, may is regarded as more
correct. ¡X ORIGIN Old English.

might1
Used to express possibility or make a suggestion.

From the Oxford English dictionary, so BOLLOCKS to you and don't show your
ignorance.

"John Hearns" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Coffee and toast for breakfast this morning.
I read the butter wrapper - "Contains Milk"
I despair...

Our coffee cups out of the vending machine at work say "warning - contents
my be hot"

--
Simon Mason
http://www.simonmason.karoo.net

John Hearns said:

Coffee and toast for breakfast this morning.
I read the butter wrapper - "Contains Milk"
I despair...

My favourite, unrelated, but anyone who flys BA, next time look at the
life jacket during the safety demo. "Put Head Through Hole", honest,
you have a look.

Quoted message said:

Our coffee cups out of the vending machine at work say "warning - contents
my be hot"

Shouldn't it be "warning contents might be hot"? :-)

Are such warnings a consequence of someone being scalded by a hot drink
(in MacDonalds?) and claimed that they didn't think it would be hot to
secure a large payout?

In message <[email hidden]>

Clive George said:

"Måns Rullgård" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

The label on the jar of orange marmalade in my fridge informs me that
the contents are kosher, vegetarian, and gluten free. I could never
have guessed.

Which reminds me that cheese doritos aren't vegetarian, but the beef and
onion, prawn cocktail, roast chicken and smoky bacon crisps are.

Many cheeses contain an extract of blood, which helps in the cheese
making process. (I think it help the cheese set).

Also bread often contains lard, so bread is often not vegiterian.

Martin.

--
According to the human genome project, humans are 50-60% bananas.
When emailing me, please include the word Banana in the subject line.

vernon said:

Are such warnings a consequence of someone being scalded by a hot drink
(in MacDonalds?) and claimed that they didn't think it would be hot to
secure a large payout?

On no... We had this one discussed a couple of months ago.
Please don't let it kick off again.

Quoted message said:

On no... We had this one discussed a couple of months ago.
Please don't let it kick off again.

so this isn't the uk.re.cycling forum ? ;-)

Could have sworn it was with the recurring: helmets are
sh**te, all driviers are gits, come over to the dark side and
'they're all out to get me' recycled threads :-)