Hidden Allergens: Pink Peppercorns, Tree Nut Allergies and how an Amazon Reviewer Helped Solve a Mystery
Pink peppercorns seemed like an innocuous ingredient until they almost killed my daughter. I’m so thankful for an Amazon reviewer for solving the mystery for us.
Originally published February 20, 2014
The information about this hidden allergen is extremely important to share among the nut allergic community and I continually thank the Amazon reviewer who solved a mystery for us.
This post about pink peppercorns could very well save many lives; maybe even the life of someone you know.
My daughter has a severe tree nut allergy,* meaning if she ingests any form of tree nuts, she will stop breathing (anaphylaxis) and die. Even a trace could do the deed–it’s that severe.
Discovering that my daughter was allergic to tree nuts (she was 4)
We learned this the hard way when she was four years old. Denisa ate a chocolate Christmas ornament which was filled with a hazelnut paste. I cannot adequately describe to you what it feels like, and the terror that fills every part of your being when you hear your child barely choke out the words, “I can’t breathe”, and to see her gasping for air.
I immediately called 911, and she was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. This was my family’s very first experience with any sort of allergy, and it was life-changing for all of us. Nuts were now a dreaded, dangerous and life-threatening food.
The incident at the restaurant
Fast forward 10 years: on the 4th of July, my daughter was at a restaurant at Disneyland with one of her best friends when I received a phone call from her friend’s mother. She told me that she thought my daughter had ingested some form of tree nuts, and was wondering whether to use the EpiPen (a shot of epinephrine) for her anaphylactic reaction.
Of course, I was petrified, and told her that my daughter had to be the one to make that decision.
Luckily, she ended up getting the nuts out of her system and the use of the EpiPen was averted. I’ve since read several news reports that prove that this doesn’t always happen. Sometimes there’s a death, instead of a happy ending. My daughter was incredibly fortunate.
PRINT THIS FOR TRAVELING WITH NUT ALLERGIES!
A mystery
At this point, the biggest problem was that the chef was baffled as to how this occurred, as he was certain that the Tortellini Alfredo and focaccia were nut-free. It was the only incident in which we had no idea what had caused her reaction. I spoke to the chef the next day, but there was still no luck in deducing what had instigated her anaphylaxis, so we were left with a mystery.
Mystery solved!
About two weeks after this incident, I was browsing peppercorns and pepper blends on Amazon.com, when I clicked on a Four Seasons Pepper Blend, which included pink peppercorns, or pepper berries. The first review caught my eye:
I couldn’t believe what I was reading, and wondered if the chef might have used this pepper blend in the pasta or focaccia that my daughter had eaten. I quickly did some research, and confirmed what the reviewer had posted. Pink peppercorns were in fact related to cashews!
Immediately, I called the restaurant, and began to ask the chef if he used this pepper blend. I hadn’t even finished asking the question, when he exclaimed, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” What a relief to finally know what had caused her reaction.
It’s disconcerting to think that we actually had a pepperberry tree in the backyard of our previous house, and I used to cut the berries and use them for various crafts. This is what the berries look like.
From Wikipedia:
Peruvian pepper (Schinus molle, also known as American pepper, Peruvian peppertree, escobilla, false pepper, molle del Peru, pepper tree, peppercorn tree, Californian pepper tree, pirul and Peruvian mastic.) is an evergreen tree that grows to 15 meters (50 feet). It is native to rhe Peruvian Andes. The bright pink fruits of Schinus molle are often sold as “pink peppercorns” although S. molle is unrelated to true pepper.
This information needs to be spread as widely as possible:
Pink peppercorns, pink pepperberries, pink berries, Peruvian pepper and whatever else they may be called, are related to CASHEWS and can cause an anaphylactic reaction in those who are allergic to CASHEWS/TREE NUTS.
Here’s what you can do to help spread the word:
- Forward this information to anyone you know who has a nut allergy. I have contacted Penzey’s Spices (who have still done nothing to label the warning 5 years later!) and other spice retailers to ask them to place this warning on their labels. If you can do the same thing, changes will happen more quickly, and hopefully avert potentially life-threatening allergic reactions in future (see update below: great news!)
- If you or your child has a nut allergy, make sure to ask at restaurants, at friends’ homes, and wherever your food is prepared if a pepper blend including pink pepper berries has been used. Inform them that the berries are related to tree nuts.
- Contact newspapers, local TV news, etc. to feature articles or segments on this information.
- Spread the info via social media; ask others to share, re-tweet, re-pin, etc.
- Translate the info into other languages, and share outside our borders.
- Pass on the information by word of mouth; you never know whose life you might save.
PLEASE click here to CHECK OUT THIS POST AS I HAVE DISCOVERED MORE HIDDEN ALLERGENS!
My concerns and some points to remember ~
* Many people throw the word “allergy” around loosely. Please be aware of how important it is that this term is used correctly.
It terrifies me that the server who is used to hearing guests order something “on-the-side” due to an “allergy”, notices they ate it anyway. Consequently, they won’t take allergies seriously anymore. Food Babe, who has hundreds and thousands of followers and has written books on the subject of food choices, advises her readers, “Go as far as telling the server you allergic to butter and dairy, soy and corn.”
I, and many others have commented on her post to tell her how this is endangering those who have LIFE-THREATENING allergies which occur within seconds. However, she refuses to remove this wording in her post. In fact, she banned me from her Facebook page when I wrote to tell her the consequences from her advice.
Many people don’t realize that simply touching nuts, and then touching other food is enough to cause anaphylaxis in some allergy sufferers, my daughter included. However, there are others whose allergies are even worse than hers. Think about the nuts being consumed in planes; it’s frightening.
UPDATED 10/19: I flew Norwegian airlines for the first time in June and was horrified at the filthy condition of the floor, including peanuts! I gave them another try this past week and guess what? The same conditions! Do they never clean their planes? This is unacceptable, especially for nut allergy sufferers!
Similarly, there is no barometer to measure or communicate how serious an allergy is. It’s completely open to interpretation. These things directly impact my daughter’s life and so many others’, too.
Finally, please be mindful of the impact that use of the word “allergy” can have.
UPDATE: my daughter attended Villanova University which has a “no nut” policy, which we didn’t discover until after we placed our deposit! I was elated. If you are concerned about your child going off to university with a nut allergy, besides being a top university, Villanova takes allergies extremely seriously. She graduated without an incident at the dining halls and restaurants.
pink peppercorns
Thank you! I will watch out for these as my daughter is allergic to cashews.
So happy that you found the information, Sarah!! CC
Oh my goodness! I’m sorry that you discovered this, but so thankful at the same time! I have one with a cashew allergy and never heard of this before. But we are now aware and will add this to our “list” we ask about when ordering at restaurants and check on at friends houses.
Good move, Kim! Better to be safe than sorry…thanks for letting me know! CC
i am allergic to latex. Since i am allergic to latex, i developed allergies to a HOST of foods…i did not realize the food connection till 3 years ago now, my mother made strawberry shortcake for my birthday “cake”. this was great, i was happy…till on the way home i realized my lips were itchy, and my tongue was slightly swollen. uh-oh. i had benadryl in my purse (because we’d been traveling and it halps me sleep when i can’t get to sleep on my own…so it helped.
when i got home, i started researching and using some VERY foul language. strawberries. tomatoes. kiwifruit. broccoli. potatoes. watermelon. all of those are now off my list. (that’s just what i remember off the top of my head) latex allergies can cause a LOT of cross allergens because the protiens are *similar* enough that the body says “wnough is enough!” and goes on the warpath attacking every similar protein. and yes, repeated exposure to latex is enough to cause allergy, isn’t THAT a bummer to every person wanting to follow safer sex practices??
Oh you poor thing! That is terrible! I had no idea about the latex allergy and its cross-allergens! Wishing you the best of luck! CC
This absolutely terrifies me. And I feel so lucky knowing as a young child he was anaphylactic to tree nuts. Luckily latest tests reveal nothing more than seafood and peanuts, but he is still terrified of eating most nuts. (He was orally tested on Almonds in the doctors office and if we are careful with how they are prepared he will eat them). I use pepper blends All. The. Time. now. I didn’t use to. To think he could have stopped breathing and I’d never know what happened! Though…it explains what the “natural flavors” Kraft refused to disclose were when he landed in the hospital twice after consuming BBQ sauce. I’m almost certain it was something like this. To this day I avoid anything that says “smoked flavoring” because I suspect that is what was in it.
Regarding the statements “if you don’t need an epi pen stop harassing restaurant staff”…we don’t know why people avoid foods. Some it may cause serious GI issues they’d rather avoid. Others, like both of my sons are on the spectrum. No, they will not need to use the epi pen if they consume dairy/gluten/artificial sweeteners and colors, but I can assure you, after extensive testing along side their doctor…I am faced with weeks, and sometimes more than a month of GI and behavioral issues as their bodies try to clear what their brain interprets as a toxin. I do ask how food is prepared. Peanuts and shell fish are easy to avoid out and about. Gluten and dairy and artificial made in a lab stuff…terrifyingly difficult. These boys have made way too much progress with their spectrum disorders for me to risk it for the sake of not harassing a waitress. And in fact, I have 3 restaurants I use. Only three. They recognize me when we come in. They know exactly what we will order and work diligently to make sure my boys can have a “normal” experience. In the past when we dealt with 9 food allergies that would cause breathing problems….I had one restaurant. I would call ahead of time and alert them that we were coming and they would prepare the food while en route. They appreciated the heads up. I appreciated they worked with us.
There are ways to work around allergies, if you are open with management. If you are kind and respectful with their policies. And if you give them enough time to prepare.
Thank you, Susan. Sounds like you’ve found some great restaurants who will work with you. Good luck to your sons with their allergies! CC
Great blog post with critical information! Only thing I wanted to caution you with is to never hesitate to use the epipen if it is believed that your daughter is having an anaphylactic reaction. I work in healthcare and know that the is risk of epipen use in children is incomparable to the risk of not using it. If your daughter feels a reaction coming on she should use it ASAP as there have been incidences of the epipen malfunctioning or the first dose proving to not be enough. I’m sure that there are other hidden allergies out there that are not yet in the public’s mind so please encourage your daughter to have a low threshold for epipen use.
Hi Christie, I will share this information with my daughter, as we were never told to use it in this manner. We were told to give Benadryl first, along with an inhaler, and it those didn’t seem to help, to use the Epipen, but from all these comments, it seems like that is bad advice (and it was from her doctor)! Thank you so much; we will definitely be seeing an allergist very soon! CC
Thank you SOOOO much for this post, my son is allergic to cashews/pistacios and I had NO idea this pepper was in the same family (along with mango…)
Thank you thank you thank you!!
You are so very welcome, Shannon! I’m so happy you got this information!! It was definitely meant for you/your son! Wishing him safe days ahead! CC
I just wanted to say im sorry for your daughters experience. HOWEVER I REALLY dislike the fact that the picture of the epipen n hidden allergies lead me to believe that theres hidden allergens in the pen. As I have gotten older I have become seriously allergic to more and more things and have an epipen that I luckily haven’t used yet. Please change your title to something else that states something about tree nut allergies and NOT ABOUT HIDDEN ALLERGIES and put in a picture of epipens. You should have posted a picture of a pepper mill or something pepper related.
Jenn, I’m sorry you misconstrued my post via the photo of the epipen, but what you are asking me to change is already in the title as you suggest. Thank you for stopping by, CC
You might want to contact Trader Joe’s. they have a Rainbow Peppercorn blend with a grinder… and there are pink peppercorns in it. They are very good with allergen information, so I would bet they would adjust their label. My daughter has peanut (not tree nut) allergies, so I understand well the panic one can feel!
(Sorry if this is duplicate, didn’t have time to read all the comments.)
Thanks, Jennifer. I actually did already contact TJs but their rep responded with a rather curt response that they cannot put the warning on their product as per FDA rules or something to that effect. No, “sorry” or anything else which truly surprised me. I wrote back to tell them that I was surprised by their response and got another cold email in return. Not what I’d expect from TJs, and I need to go higher up the ladder.