This week: peanut hiding in a jar of tahini, and cashew in a Dubai-style pistachio ice cream
The recall: a tahini that never says peanut
Mounit el Bait brand Tahina is being recalled across Canada because it contains peanut, and the label does not say so. The CFIA logged it on July 17 as a Class 1 recall, its most serious tier, the one reserved for a real chance someone gets hurt.
Tahini is sesame paste. It is the jar you reach for without a second thought, because sesame is the whole point and you already know what is in it. This time peanut was in it too, and nothing on the label told you. Peanut is the allergen most likely to send someone to the hospital, so the lever here is simple and unforgiving: if a jar of Mounit el Bait Tahina is in your cupboard, do not eat from it. Take it back or throw it out. No reactions have been reported, and that is what a Class 1 recall is for, to keep it that way before anyone reacts.
Two more worth flagging
Rice balls recalled for peanut, in the black-sesame filling. Khong Guan Corporation issued an allergy alert on its Glutinous Rice Balls With Black Sesame Filling because they contain undeclared peanut, and the company expanded the recall the next day to include its Black and White Glutinous Rice Balls. It is the second peanut recall of the week to hide inside a sesame product. If peanut is the allergy in your house, this is a freezer-check week, because these live in the frozen aisle.
Doritos Chilli Heatwave pulled in the UK for milk. PepsiCo recalled Doritos Chilli Heatwave Flavour tortilla chips through the FSA because they contain milk that is not declared on the label, and updated the alert on July 18. Milk is the most common childhood food allergy, and a big-brand bag of chips is exactly the everyday product nobody re-reads. If someone in the house reacts to milk, check the bag before it goes in a lunch.
The rest of the week, by country
Canada. Mounit el Bait Tahina, undeclared peanut (the lead above). Goodfood brand meatball meals, undeclared egg and sesame.
United States. Khong Guan Glutinous Rice Balls With Black Sesame Filling, undeclared peanut and sesame (flagged above). OLA-OLA Pounded Yam from Fayus/Yusol, an expanded recall for undeclared milk that widens the notice from earlier this month.
United Kingdom. Doritos Chilli Heatwave from PepsiCo, undeclared milk (flagged above). 1001 Delights Dubai Style Pistachio Ice Cream from Lidl Northern Ireland, undeclared cashew, a tree nut.
The pattern this week: peanut riding along with the sesame
Two of this week’s peanut recalls were not peanut products at all. One was a jar of tahini, one was a black-sesame rice ball, and in both the peanut came along uninvited next to the sesame. When you cook from a sesame paste or a sesame filling, peanut is not the thing you are scanning for, and this week it was there twice without a word on the label.
Before you go
Each recall above links to its primary agency notice, with product photos and lot numbers. I go through the federal and provincial recall feeds every week and post what an allergy household would actually want flagged. The next one lands next week.
Not medical advice. Every reaction is different, so follow the emergency action plan you built with your allergist; if you do not have one, that is the ask for your next visit. When a reaction is severe or you are not sure how bad it is, do not delay epinephrine, then call for help.