For nogen tid siden ... næsten et år ... skrev jeg om mærkning af slik her på bloggen. Jeg skrev:
For nogle dage siden var jeg på indkøb og overvejede jeg og jeg
skulle blande mig en pose bland-selv slik, men jeg orkede ikke at læse
mig igennem alle etiketterne med småt tryk, forvirrende skrifttyper og
i underlige vinkler i min søgen efter HVEDEMEL og MÆLK
- der godt nok som her er skrevet med store bogstaver eller med fedt,
eller udnerstreget, eller kursiv, eller ... - og især efter sorbitol der også gemmer sig under E420 og på ingen måde fremhæves, fordi Fødevarestyrelsen har talt.
Så blev jeg opmærksom på en far, der stod med sine børn og blandede slik. Han formanede gentagne gange børnene til kun at vælge dem med de grønne cirkler på. Jeg kiggede nærmere og så, at der øverst i kanten af hver etiket var en række forskelligfarvede bobler, en med Laktosefri, en grøn med Vegansk, en med Gelatinefri, og en med Glutenfri, tror jeg nok.
Det vil så sige at det er nemmere at være veganer eller muslim end FODMAP-intolerant når man vil blande slik.
Forleden fik jeg så endelig taget nogle billeder af de famøse slikbøtter. Det var værre, end jeg huskede. Så blev jeg opmærksom på en far, der stod med sine børn og blandede slik. Han formanede gentagne gange børnene til kun at vælge dem med de grønne cirkler på. Jeg kiggede nærmere og så, at der øverst i kanten af hver etiket var en række forskelligfarvede bobler, en med Laktosefri, en grøn med Vegansk, en med Gelatinefri, og en med Glutenfri, tror jeg nok.
Det vil så sige at det er nemmere at være veganer eller muslim end FODMAP-intolerant når man vil blande slik.
-- 🍬 -- 🍭 --
Some time ago I complained here on my blog about the labels on Pick'n'mix candy.
I wrote:
A few days ago, I was shopping and thinking about mixing myself a bag of
pick'n'mix sweets, but I couldn't stand the prospect of reading through
all the labels in small print, confusing fonts and at odd angles in my
search for FLOUR and MILK - which at least as shown are written in either capitals, or bold, or italics, or underlined, or ... and especially sorbitol, which also hides under E-420 and is in no way highlighted because the FDA has spoken.
Then I became aware of a father standing with his children mixing sweets. He repeatedly admonished the children to choose only those with the green blobs on them. I looked closer and saw that at the top of each label was a row of different coloured bubbles, one with Lactose Free, one green with Vegan, one with Gelatine Free, and one with Gluten Free, I think.
This means that it is easier to be vegan or Muslim than FODMAP intolerant when buying sweets.
Then I became aware of a father standing with his children mixing sweets. He repeatedly admonished the children to choose only those with the green blobs on them. I looked closer and saw that at the top of each label was a row of different coloured bubbles, one with Lactose Free, one green with Vegan, one with Gelatine Free, and one with Gluten Free, I think.
This means that it is easier to be vegan or Muslim than FODMAP intolerant when buying sweets.
Now, finally I re-found the candy store AND had my camera. The labelling was worse than I thought.
Men lad os gå tættere på. Kantmærkernes farve og placering er den samme på alle bøtter, så Jeg nupper nogle, hvor man faktisk kan læse teksten.
-- 🍬 --
At a distance it looks OK. Let's take a closer look. The labels are the same on all varieties and placed in the same spot. As some of my photos are fuzzy, the labels change without much ado.
På selve skiltet står der: Husk at handskerne anvendes i forskellige bokse, og at allergener og produkter derfor kan flytte sig mellem boksene.
Allergenerne - nogen af dem i hvert fald - angives med fed skrift på selve etiketten. Her hvedemel, der giver folk med cøliaki alvorlige symptomer.
I den engelske vingummi er der også æble-, fersken-, pære-, abrikos-, gulerods- og kirsebærkoncentrater, der giver mange folk med birkepollenallergi og/eller FODMAP-intolerance problemer.
-- 🍭 --
What do we see here? From left to right the blobs read: Natural flavours, Natural colours, Free from Palm Oil, Free from Gelatine, Vegan. Well none of those are actual allergens.It's ideologies or religiously based warnings.
Some of the text in the middle warns that: The gloves (gloves mandatory for mixing) are used in different crates. Thus allergens and produce can move between the crates.
Very useful warning, don't you think? The allergens proper are written in bold in the list of contents.
- Ikke et ord om E120, det røde farvestof karmin, der kan gøre folk med skaldyrsallergi alvorligt syge.
Kan hænde, det er en Naturlig farve, men Naturlig betyder ikke nødvendigvis spiseligt, sundt og ugiftigt. Grøn fluesvamp for eksempel er 100% naturlig.
- Ikke et ord om æble og fersken, der kan give folk med birkepollenallergi problemer.
-- 🍭 --
The warning about of allergens here says: May contain traces of milk, nuts and peanuts.
- No warning about E120, the red dye carmine, which can harm people allergic to crustaceans.
It is of course a natural dye, but natural is not the same as "not harmful" "edible" or even "healthy" Amanitas are 100% natural.
- No warning about apple or peach, which might cause allergic reaction if you suffer from birch pollen allergy.
-- 🍬 -- 🍭 --
Hvorfor er kantmærkerne ikke: Glutenfri, Laktosefri, Birkefri, Skaldyrsfri, Gelatinefri, Vegansk og eventuelt gerne FODMAP-fri?
-- 🍬 --
Why don't the labels tell us: Free from Gluten, Free from Lactose, Free form Birch Cross-reactants, Free from Crustaceans, Free from Gelatine, Vegan, and preferably FODMAP-free as well?
Sigh. We have come a long way - and have a lot further to go.
SvarSletI am not sure I agree. Yes it's better than it was long ago - but also long ago all those strange ingredients did not exist. So two steps forwards, two steps back.
SletLabelling candy with Natural colourants and Natural flavours is just a claim to augment sales. No real information there, as the legislation regarding colourants is rightfully restrictive in Denmark.
In Denmark at least labelling has gone from better to worse the last few years.
If they asked me, all ingredients should be listed in easily readable text after amount, and none lumped together in "Spices" or "Natural colourants/flavours".
They don't make it easy to read all the labels or know exactly what's in there.
SvarSletNo, they really don't.
SletI don't know about pick and mix candies, but I do know that a lot of foods in jars and cans will be labelled gluten free, or palm oil free or nut free. Some candy bars are labelled "may contain seeds or nuts" because they are produced on the same machinery, so people at least are warned. I agree there is still a long way to go, because there are so many different allergens but not everyone is allergic. And producing particular foods gets more expensive and time consuming for the factories.
SvarSlet"May contain milk, soy, nuts, and peanuts" has turned into a kind of cover your arse-statement, as it is roughly printed on anything not containing said ingredients.
SletSurprisingly many suffer from some kind of allergy or intolerances. Around 1% suffer from celiac disease, 5% from lactose intolerance (of those a vast majority are immigrants), 10% crossreactants with birch, 8 crossreactants with other pollen types, and an unknown number FODMAP-intolerance (which also includes lactose). This means that at least 15 % of all customers have to read through a lot of labels every day.
The only consistent marking I see when shopping is "Vegan" which I notice just makes the produce more expensive than the bag next to it, containing the very same ingredients, but not marked ;) And it shows up everywhere - also on things where no-one in his right mind would expect animal ingredients - pasta and bags of untreated nuts come to my mind. It's just a sales gimmick. and an excuse to raise the price. According to the latest numbers 3% of all Danes see themselves as vegans.
I get the idea in peanut-free and gluten-free, where eg. gluten freee oats are made after a thorough cleaning of all the rooms and mashines. This of course reqires more money and a special lable. But gluten will also make a celiac ill, and traces of peanut may kill.
Not so traces of milk for me, traces of artificial colours, or traces of kiwi, apple, lard, and so on.
I read the warning "May contain traces of milk" like an OK - there's not enough milk in this product to harm me ;)
Sorry about this rant, but the idea of catering to ideologically based diets, and not to medically based ones rubs me the wrong way.
I get it. My son in law is celiac and has a card to carry and show at restaurants etc, but in reality they rarely eat anywhere but at home where the food is known to be safe. My oldest grand daughter had a milk allergy, but not to the lactose, she was and still is, allergic to the milk proteins, so has been on soy milk since age 6 weeks, also had problems with red meat proteins, so ate no read meats until she was school age, then it was introduced gradually. She is 29 now and is a mother herself, and getting married next Saturday.
SvarSletYou sure do. It is a royal pita, homemade is best. Gratz on impending marriage.
Slet