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Monkey nuts withdrawn over 'may contain nuts' warning error

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duncvis
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27 Apr 2013, 4:57 am

Seriously. You couldn't make it up:

May contain nuts

Quote:
A supermarket chain has withdrawn bags of nuts from sale because they contain nuts.

Booths decided to pull its Whole Hearted Roasted Monkey Nuts from shelves because its label does not declare it contains peanuts....

...Customers with an allergy to peanuts are advised not to eat the nuts and return the bags to their nearest Booths store for a refund, the company said.


:lol: :lol: :lol:


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eric76
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27 Apr 2013, 6:42 am

With a name like "Monkey Nuts", who would expect it to contain peanuts? I'm allergic to peanuts but have no problems with other nuts. Not seeing a label warning about peanuts, I could easily be tempted to try them out.

Not having a warning label about peanuts for a product that contains peanuts is a very serious matter.



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27 Apr 2013, 7:45 am

Monkey nuts = peanuts in the shell. Its a generic term on this side of the Atlantic, and on opening the pack it would be immediately obvious that they are, in fact, peanuts.

[img][800:479]http://lily.rupture.net/yak/archives/MonkeyNuts.jpg[/img]


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eric76
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27 Apr 2013, 9:48 am

Ahhhh! In that packaging, it is clear that it is peanuts.



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28 Apr 2013, 7:32 am

I wonder how the term " monkey nuts" came to be? :D (And yeah, that's ridiculous!)



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01 May 2013, 12:54 pm

I've never heard that term before for peanuts. I only ever heard that term in a video game I play and as far as I can tell from the icon of the item they don't look like peanuts to me. They are available on the monkey island. I had no clue that some people called peanuts that.



visagrunt
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01 May 2013, 2:41 pm

Seems straightforward to me.

If the relevant legislation requires that prescribed allergens be identified on a package, and the legislation does not provide for exceptions for clear packaging, then a non-compliant package must be withdrawn. Period.

These things may appear self-evident, but no one should ever approve the design for a food package without consulting the legislation.


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01 May 2013, 6:25 pm

visagrunt wrote:
Seems straightforward to me.

If the relevant legislation requires that prescribed allergens be identified on a package, and the legislation does not provide for exceptions for clear packaging, then a non-compliant package must be withdrawn. Period.

These things may appear self-evident, but no one should ever approve the design for a food package without consulting the legislation.


But would you agree that an exception should exist for cases such as this?



eric76
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01 May 2013, 6:47 pm

Tensu wrote:
But would you agree that an exception should exist for cases such as this?


How about the Wales ruling that "Welsh Dragon Sausage" was misleading because it does not actually contain dragon?

From http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6159630.stm:
Quote:
A food company has been warned it could face legal action over the name of its Welsh Dragon Sausages.

Trading standards said Black Mountains Smokery in Powys must also include the type of meat used in the sausages - pork - to meet labelling regulations.

The boss of the firm in Crickhowell said pork was listed on the label and called it "bureaucracy gone mad".

Jon Carthew said: "I don't think any of our customers actually believe that we use dragon meat in our sausages.

...
But officials said they would not want vegetarians to buy the product by mistake thinking they were meat free.

Consumer watchdogs took action after being tipped off that the sausages were in breach of the 1996 Food Labelling Act.

The warning letter from Powys council's trading standards department, who analysed the sausages, read: "The public analyst has stated that the name Welsh Dragon Sausage is not sufficiently precise to inform a purchaser of the true nature of the food.

"It is recommended that you include the type of meat eg: pork/beef in the name of the food."

The ingredients - including pork - are listed on the Welsh Dragon Sausages' label but both the supplier and Black Mountains Smokery were informed it was an offence and they were breaking the law over the misleading name.


They apparently aren't so looney on the Isle of Man. Radcliffe Butchers in Castletown still sells them. See http://www.radcliffebutchers.com/engine ... on+Sausage



visagrunt
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02 May 2013, 10:52 am

Tensu wrote:
But would you agree that an exception should exist for cases such as this?


No. Regulation should be as simple for businesses to comply with as possible. A rule that says, "you must identify the potential presence of any of these 14 allergens on your package," is simple and easy to implement.

A rule that says, "must identify the potential presence of any of these 14 allergens on your package, unless 60% or more of the package will be tranparent when placed in a retail display setting and the transparency provides clear and unambiguous notice to the customer of the contents therein," becomes more cumbersome.

eric76 wrote:
How about the Wales ruling that "Welsh Dragon Sausage" was misleading because it does not actually contain dragon?


But do they contain meat? My understanding is that all processed meat products (as opposed to raw and cooked cuts of meat identified as such) must indicate that they contain meat, beyond the mandatory ingredient list. Given the number of vegetarian and vegan meat substitutes, a product that does not unambiguously demonstrate that it contains meat might well fall afoul of such a regulation. A regulation too far? Perhaps. But not quite so irrational as we might expect.


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02 May 2013, 12:42 pm

I feel sorry for the poor castrated monkeys :P

And I've just had a brilliant idea for a mens' underwear design. :lol:


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eric76
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02 May 2013, 2:18 pm

visagrunt wrote:
eric76 wrote:
How about the Wales ruling that "Welsh Dragon Sausage" was misleading because it does not actually contain dragon?


But do they contain meat? My understanding is that all processed meat products (as opposed to raw and cooked cuts of meat identified as such) must indicate that they contain meat, beyond the mandatory ingredient list. Given the number of vegetarian and vegan meat substitutes, a product that does not unambiguously demonstrate that it contains meat might well fall afoul of such a regulation. A regulation too far? Perhaps. But not quite so irrational as we might expect.


There was never any allegation that any customer was ever confused by the name Welsh Dragon Sausage. There is no record that anyone ever bought some, took it home, and was surprised to find that it contained meat. Do vegetarians commonly go to butcher shops are the meat sections of grocery stories to find vegetarian products?

For what it's worth, a bit more than twenty years ago, I was a vegetarian for two years because I had seeming lost my ability to digest meat without having a strong diarrhea at least six days a week. After about two years, I gradually introduced meat back into my diet and the daily diarrhea did not return. During those two years, the idea of going to the meat counter in the grocery store to buy vegetarian products never crossed my mind even once.



visagrunt
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02 May 2013, 4:21 pm

[quote="eric76]There was never any allegation that any customer was ever confused by the name Welsh Dragon Sausage. There is no record that anyone ever bought some, took it home, and was surprised to find that it contained meat. Do vegetarians commonly go to butcher shops are the meat sections of grocery stories to find vegetarian products?

For what it's worth, a bit more than twenty years ago, I was a vegetarian for two years because I had seeming lost my ability to digest meat without having a strong diarrhea at least six days a week. After about two years, I gradually introduced meat back into my diet and the daily diarrhea did not return. During those two years, the idea of going to the meat counter in the grocery store to buy vegetarian products never crossed my mind even once.[/quote]

There needn't have been such an allegation. Regulation is forward looking, and failure to comply is established by the label, not by an actual misinterpretation by a customer.

And for the record, Veggie-burgers are in the freezer case at my grocery store, right next to the beef burgers.


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02 May 2013, 11:54 pm

visagrunt wrote:
Tensu wrote:
But would you agree that an exception should exist for cases such as this?


No. Regulation should be as simple for businesses to comply with as possible. A rule that says, "you must identify the potential presence of any of these 14 allergens on your package," is simple and easy to implement.

A rule that says, "must identify the potential presence of any of these 14 allergens on your package, unless 60% or more of the package will be tranparent when placed in a retail display setting and the transparency provides clear and unambiguous notice to the customer of the contents therein," becomes more cumbersome.


Yeah, I guess I could see that. And something brief like "unless it's obvious" would be too vague.



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03 May 2013, 12:10 am

Tensu wrote:
visagrunt wrote:
Tensu wrote:
But would you agree that an exception should exist for cases such as this?


No. Regulation should be as simple for businesses to comply with as possible. A rule that says, "you must identify the potential presence of any of these 14 allergens on your package," is simple and easy to implement.

A rule that says, "must identify the potential presence of any of these 14 allergens on your package, unless 60% or more of the package will be tranparent when placed in a retail display setting and the transparency provides clear and unambiguous notice to the customer of the contents therein," becomes more cumbersome.


Yeah, I guess I could see that. And something brief like "unless it's obvious" would be too vague.


In the case of the Welsh Dragon Sausage, it said on the package that it was made of pork. What got the government riled up was that it didn't say pork in the name. The company ended up having to change the name to Welsh Dragon Pork Sausage.



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03 May 2013, 10:15 am

eric76 wrote:
In the case of the Welsh Dragon Sausage, it said on the package that it was made of pork. What got the government riled up was that it didn't say pork in the name. The company ended up having to change the name to Welsh Dragon Pork Sausage.


I'm not saying it's an intelligent regulation, but I can understand how it might have appeared reasonable to policy makers at the time, and officials don't get to choose which laws we enforce and which we don't.


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