Are you allergic to peanuts? If so, avoid any food with peanuts in the ingredients list, or that indicates it has been manufactured in the presence of peanuts or peanut-containing ingredients.
Avoid any food containing the following:
- Peanuts and peanut butter
- Ground nuts
- Mixed nuts
- Artificial nuts (such as Nu-Nuts®)
- Peanut flour
- In imported foods, hydrolyzed plant or vegetable protein (foods made in the United States and Canada are required to list the source of these ingredients)
- Cold-pressed, expelled, or expressed peanut oil
Be especially alert for the presence of peanuts in the following:
- Cosmetics, medications, creams, and other topical products containing arachis oil (another name for peanuts generally used in pharmaceuticals)
- East Asian cuisine. Peanuts are nearly ubiquitous in Thai, Chinese, and Indonesian cooking but are used in many Asian cooking traditions
- West African and Southern American cuisine
- Baked goods, especially cookies, cakes, cupcakes, crackers, and the like
- Chocolates and candies. "Brittle" almost always indicates peanuts, and "barks" are usually made from nuts of some kind. Many otherwise safe chocolates are made on shared lines with peanuts
- Spaghetti sauces, chilis, soups, and similar dishes
- Ice cream and other frozen desserts
- Nougat and marzipan
- Cereal and granola
Be aware of shared manufacturing lines and "may contain peanut" warnings. Studies have shown that a significant percentage of foods with these type of labels contain enough allergen proteins to trigger a reaction in susceptible individuals.
Sources:
McGee, Harold. "Seeds: Grains, Legumes, Nuts." On Food and Cooking. 1st Rev. Ed. New York: Scribner, 2004. 451-515.
Stanford University, Lucille Packard Children's Hospital. "Peanut Allergy Diet." 25 Aug. 2008.
