Pine nuts and goats milk should be on food allergy lists, researchers say

Foods such as goats milk and pine nuts may need allergy warning labels, researchers suggest.

It comes as a study highlighted eight foods currently not included on the list for mandatory allergy labelling but which are regularly involved in cases of anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic reaction that can happen very quickly.

Experts in France analysed food-induced anaphylaxis cases reported to the Allergy Vigilance Network from 2002–2023.

In almost 3,000 cases, some 413 were caused by eight emerging allergens without mandatory labelling, including two deaths, according to study author Dominique Sabouraud-Leclerc.

“We therefore believe it is time to review the list of the 14 foods with mandatory labelling to include at least the most severe of these emerging food allergens,” she said.

Writing in the journal of Clinical and Experimental Allergy, researchers suggest four of these foods – goat and sheep milk, buckwheat, peas and lentils, and pine nuts – should be included on allergen listings.

This is due to their “frequency, severity, recurrence, and potential for hidden exposure”, they added.

The recurrence rate – which means the same allergen caused a number of reactions in the same patient – ranged from 7.3% for peas and lentils and 56% for goat and sheep milk.

Researchers also warned other ingredients to be wary of include kiwi, apple, beehive products like pollen, and alpha-gal, which can be found in red meat.

In the UK and EU, food businesses are required to highlight 14 major allergens on packaging. These are:

– Celery– Cereals containing gluten, such as wheat, rye, barley and oats– Crustaceans like prawns, crabs and lobsters– Eggs– Fish– Lupin, a legume related to peanuts– Milk– Molluscs like mussels and oysters– Mustard– Peanuts– Sesame– Soybeans– Sulphur dioxide and sulphites– Tree nuts like almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, brazil nuts, cashews, pecans, pistachios and macademia nuts

Anaphylaxis symptoms usually start within minutes of coming into contact with an allergen and can include swelling of the throat and tongue, trouble breathing and fainting.