Sulfite Allergy – Important Question – Need Your Help
Hi Everyone,
We would like really like your help with this one – We have recently received some feedback regarding the FoodEssential Sulfite allergy analysis and would like YOUR help to resolve the issue. It has been brought to our attention that the current sulfite analysis does not give a “true indication” of the sulfite content of a particular food. We feel it is important to try and involve the sulfite community in order to resolve this issue, move forward and create a more useful food label comparison tool for everyone.
Issue: “The FoodEssential sulfite analysis does not give a true indication on whether or not a food actually contains sulfite properties. In fact it may imply that many foods do not contain sulfite properties when in reality they do – in most cases, naturally occurring sulfites.”
Currently at FoodEssentials, our sulfite analysis only considers the possible presence of the following food additives:
- Sulfur Dioxide
- Sodium Sulfite
- Sodium Bisulfite
- Sodium Metabisulfite
- Potassium Metabisulfite
- Potassium Sulfite
- Potassium Bisulfite
The FoodEssentials sulfite analysis also includes ingredients that are known to contain the above food additives such as wine, vinegar and dried fruit products.
FoodEssentials is aware that sulfites can occur naturally in a variety of levels in many fruit and vegetable products. However, it does not recognize this in its analysis of sulfites. It would be a very tough task to analyze a food label for it’s true sulfite content, using only the information available on the food label. Additionally, due to the diverse range of sulfites levels across the spectrum of sulfite containing ingredients, the corresponding effects of consuming sulfites (if any) are varied. These are the main reasons why FoodEssentials only analyzes food labels for the presence of “added sulfites”.
Questions:
- Would the current FoodEssential sulfite analysis be useful to you if you suffered from a sulfite allergy? Would the ability to quickly and easily identify food products containing the seven sulfite food additives (listed above) be helpful to you still?
- Or would you prefer that we remove the sulfite analysis completely, due to the fact that we can’t give the consumer a true indication of the sulfite content of a particular food?
Thanks everyone for your time – Your help will be very much appreciated on this topic!
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I understand what you are trying to get at. It is hard to ascertain whether certain sulfites will occur naturally. I don’t see how you could do it. Regarding removing it altogether. Not sure if I would do that, because your database is quite useful. Perhaps an added warning? Look forward to other comments.
Hi Hkcubs,
Thanks very much for your comment. It really is a complex issue, i think we both agree – but the trouble in analyzing foods for true sulfite values is just so varied and depends so much of the allergy sufferer, that it complicates our ability to display this information on a website. Hence the reason for trying to find out what the “people” want.
In regards to the warning – we will be uploading a few new developments next week that will be resolving this issue and communicate for all allergies and additives our analysis process.
Thanks again Hkcubs, and keep them coming.
Cheers,
Dagan Xavier
Keep in mind that the process of making wines and grape juice produces sulfites naturally. those are generally not mentioned when a bottle says that there are no added sulfites. however, there are some wines that add sulfites to aid in the fermentation process that burns off as sulfer dioxide. from what I have been told, that still leaves behind some residue of sulfites.
some people, like myself, cannot drink wines with the added sulfites, but can drink wines that contain the naturally occurring sulfites.
I hope this helps.
Thanks for your comment Ben
We actually give wine ingredients a “may contain” sulfites property on our ingredient database unless they state otherwise (contains sulfites). So in your case, am I right in assuming that the current way foodessentials analyses for sulfite properties would suit you? As in, if the pressence of added sulfites is listed, or their pressence may occur in specific ingredients (like wine, vinegar and dried fruit) foodessentials will display this information.
It is really important that we design this tool around the needs of our users, so any feedback you have regarding this point would be much appreciated.
Thanks again for taking the time out to comment!
Dagan Xavier
I may suggest that you say something like “may contain naturally occurring sulfites.” Just a thought. my needs are not important as I do not stay away from sulfites per say, since my allergy is so minor.
Thanks Ben. We will definatley take your suggestion into consideration. It is something that we do need to communicate a bit better.
Cheers,
Dagan
What Ben says I think is true in general. I would have to imagine in food, certain properties develop, in this case sulphites in wine. So knowing that there were no added sulphites would work.
But taking this beyond, this interaction between different ingredients must cause certain properties in the food to show up, even if individually each ingredient does not have this property. How could one possibly know? I certainly applaud your database as a first step to finally being able to see what is “really” in your brand foods.
Hi Winelover,
Thanks for commenting.
From the comments we have received so far and the feedback we have received in the past, we can sumarise that displaying whether or not a food label contains “added sulfites” would be useful to many people. It is also clear, that being able to analyze a food product for its true sulfite properties (including naturally occuring sulfites) is quite a task and at times not possible with just the nutritional information published on the food label.
Thank you for your kind words, and please feel free to come forward and approach us in the future with any other suggestions or questions you may have.
Have a great weekend!
Dagan
I think any information about this topic is useful, just specify if any of it is incomplete.
The testing substance for allergists is sodium metabisulfite. I am one of the unlucky folks that has a truly dangerous reaction to this substance, and have found that any liquid with this added will cause an immediate drop in lung function, and can progress to anaphylaxis. I have, however, accidentally eaten sulfited potatoes, but seem to be relatively unaffected by this, unknown if it is because of it being a solid or if this chemical form does not bother me.
I guess I would be especially interested in foods that have added metabisulfite, since this is medically proven to be the most likely solution (other than pure sulfur dioxide) to cause irritation and bronchospasm in those of us who are sensitive. It might also be worth mentioning that sulfites occur naturally in any fermented food or beverage.
Knowing these two basic things, I have been able to keep myself away from the truly dangerous stuff and have only had mild gastric reactions to traces of sulfites in other foods.
I am a non-asthmatic reactor to SO2 (sulfites) and recently went to the emergency room with anaphylaxis (stomach cramping, vomiting, hyperventilation, and seizures). I reacted to fresh green beans! I know that because of my extremely restricted diet, and traced the culprit to the hydro-cool wash (chlorinated) of the bean harvest by the produce company. Sulfite testing of foods is complex, a full chemical laboratory can reduce good results, but quick tests are unable to give accurate levels of sulfites that are bound up in foods; they can only reveal free sulfites (added to the outside of the food). Many foods contain natural sulfites. Many foods are washed in chemicals processed with sulfur dioxide. Foods and drugs contain substances derived through processes involving sulfur dioxide, and are considered GRAS (generally regarded as safe), but potentially deadly for me. My situation is uncommon, but there is no doubt that the level of exposure is directly linked to the reaction, even with mild intolerance and not true allergy. Even sensitive people tolerate certain levels with no apparent adverse effect. So, no, a sulfite test would be of no use to me, the results are too inaccurate.