Urgent Peanut Allergy Advice

Allergy UK has received an urgent statement from the Foods Standards Agency (FSA) regarding a potential allergen contamination issue affecting anyone with a peanut allergy. The FSA is advising people with a peanut allergy to avoid consuming foods that contain or may contain mustard, mustard powder, or mustard flour due to potential contamination with peanuts. These mustard ingredients are often found in food such as dips, sauces, salads and pre-packed sandwiches. 

• Original alert and update 1: Issued 18th September 2024
• Update 2: Issued 20th September 2024
• Update 3: Issued 22nd September 2024
• Update 4: Issued 23rd September 2024
• Update 5: Issued 24th September 2024
• Update 6: Issued 25th September 2024

The FSA is taking a precautionary approach and is advising any individual living with or caring for anyone with a peanut allergy, to avoid eating any product that contains or may contain mustard until the specific affected products are identified.   

In response to this urgent statement, Allergy UK advises individuals with peanut allergies to take the necessary precautions:  

• Carefully check all food labels you have previously bought or plan to purchase over the weekend to see if mustard is mentioned. If mustard is present in a food, it should be labelled in bold on the packet.   
• If you are planning to dine out or order from a takeaway, please enquire about the presence of mustard in any of their products when ordering via the phone or delivery apps. By law, food businesses must provide this information to customers.   
• Always carry allergy medication with you, including both adrenaline auto-injectors (AAIs) and know what to do in an emergency situation. If you are experiencing an anaphylactic reaction, use your AAIs immediately and call 999. 
• Please share this information as widely as possible with your friends, family, and anyone you know who lives with or cares for someone with a peanut allergy.   
• If you encounter a food-related issue or reaction, report it to your local trading standards and the Food Standards Agency.  To find out more information and to find your local trading standards are visit this link.

Today’s announcement from the FSA poses a potentially significant health risk to anyone with a peanut allergy. Alongside other allergy charities, we are working hard to ensure as many people as possible are made aware of the issue. We advise anyone with a peanut allergy to heed the FSA’s advice to avoid foods with mustard as an ingredient until further notice. This is irrespective of the severity of the peanut allergy, as we know this can change over time. – Simone Miles, CEO at Allergy UK

The FSA is urgently working with local authorities, businesses, and the food industry to identify which products may be affected. The contaminated mustard ingredients have been traced back to a producer in India called GT Agro Industries, and one UK company, FGS Ingredients Ltd, has been identified as a supplier of these ingredients for use in UK food. They have advised their customers to remove products containing the contaminated mustard ingredients from sale. At this time, there is no evidence other GT Agro Industries suppliers have been affected in the UK.  

We are working closely with the FSA and we will update the allergic community as soon as more information and updates become available. Some recalls of affected products have already been issued this week via Allergy UK’s Alert Service. We will continue to issue these alerts whenever the FSA identifies an affected product. Please sign up for our Allergy Alerts to receive notifications about any and all future recalls and consider signing up for the FSA Alerts too.  

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