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
This is so important… I don’t think allergy doctors spend enough time on this topic either. My last allergist. ..eh. new allergist went over some stuff like what falls into same category and might cause reaction. You’d think this would be standard and maybe in handouts for people. Nobody wants to use the epi pen.
You are right, Danielle, it would be nice for this sort of information to be compiled somehow. Good luck to you, CC
Thank you for this very important info! I am a pre-school teacher and have had a few children over the years who have suffered from tree-nut allergies. I just passed this on to our director and also the head of our ECC, who happens to have 2 children with tree-nut allergies.
Wonderful, Tara!! Thank you for letting me know! CC
Thank you, Thank you for this information. My son has a anaphylactic reaction to cashews. I never would have thought!
Happy that you found this info, Melanie! Hope your son stays nut-free! CC
Christina-
Thank you so much for sharing this invaluable information! Like your daughter I have a tree nut allergy and am anaphylactic to multiple foods. Unlike your daughter I was diagnosed in my late 30s after going into anaphylactic shock at the office (yikes!). I am will be sharing this information with my followers. Thanks again!
Wow, that must have been shocking (no pun intended) to have happen in your 30s, Kate! Good luck to staying away from your allergens and so happy you found this info and will share with others! CC
Thank you for posting! Severe tree nut allergy here, too. Also cashews , almonds, basically any nut that grows on a tree or bush.
I wanted to mention a “hidden” allergen that I discovered the hard way. Shea butter is in many lotions and creams. Years ago I purchased a foot cream with the highest percentage of shea butter that I could find at Bath & Body Works. I slathered it on my feet that night and when I woke up the next day, I could hardly walk. I had very deep hives on the bottom of my feet for at least 2 weeks. Shea butter is derived from a shea nut. When I was looking for cloth diaper safe rash cream, sunscreen, and other baby lotions that are organic and natural, many of them contained shea butter. Hope my experience helps someone avoid potential problems!
Yes, Heidi! Unfortunately, my daughter had a similar experience to you, and also with a Bath and Body Works item! What really upset me is that we specifically asked for a product without any nuts, including shea butter, but the day after my daughter used the lotion on her face, she had a terrible rash. Obviously it had some form of a nut oil in it, probably shea butter. Thank you for posting here as others will probably read it and learn yet another danger to avoid! Thanks for stopping by!! CC
Thanks for sharing this. I passed it along to my niece who is allergic to tree nuts.
Did you know that fruits with pits, i.e. peaches, apricots, nectarines, cherries and plums are in the same family as the almond? My niece found this out the hard way after eating a nectarine several years ago and having a reaction. I’m not sure why it isn’t common knowledge. I even had a hard time finding an article to share to back it up. This one actually explains it pretty well.
http://home.allergicchild.com/top-8-tree-nuts/
You’re welcome, Lelia, and thank you for forwarding on the info to your niece. Yes, I do know that because my daughter’s pediatrician told me to get every nut product out of the house when she was first diagnosed with her nut allergy as she said if she’s allergic to hazelnuts, she’s probably allergic to all tree nuts. I told her she couldn’t be allergic to almonds as she ate them all the time in her Trader Joe’s cereal. So that’s when I discovered, by doing research, that almonds are related to stone fruits and are not actual nuts (even though many people who are allergic to nuts are ALSO allergic to almonds!) A woman in a bakery actually wanted to argue the fact that almonds are nuts; you can’t force people to believe facts. ;) Thank you for your comment! CC
Ditto the thank you- I have a son with tree nut allergies as well and I had no idea. After reading your article I did a quick search on the web. I found this article http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3512604/ which says there haven’t been many reported cases of this kind of reaction from pink peppercorns. I am sure there are more cases like yours. Did you daughters allergist report this to the gov? I am hoping labels will start to give a tree nut warning on labels of product that contain this. Unsure of the process for this change?
Thanks, Danielle. I have no idea either, but have no idea how to go about reporting this to the government but will have to start with some research, I suppose. I think for many people, they probably never figured out what allergen caused the reaction. If I wouldn’t have found the Amazon review that day, I don’t think we would know what made her react that day. Thanks for your comment and I will look into reporting it to the FDA or whichever office will take the info. CC
Thanks very much for the warning that will be helpful to many people.
I wonder what to do about this:
‘People throw the word, “allergy” around so loosely, that it scares me.
‘It terrifies me that the waiter who is used to hearing guests order something “on-the-side” because they’re “allergic”, then sees them eating it anyway, won’t take allergies seriously anymore.
…
‘It worries me because there is no barometer to measure or communicate how serious an allergy is, so it’s completely open to interpretation, and it concerns me, because these things directly impact my daughter’s life and many others’, too.
‘Please be mindful of the impact that use of the word “allergy” can have.’
A little over a year ago, I had a skin prick panel done at UCSF and found that I’m allergic to: peanuts, hazelnuts, almonds, lima beans, potatoes, peas, soy, cinnamon. (I had found I’m also allergic to raw apples through a previous skin prick test.)
Clearly these are much milder allergies than your daughter has — I didn’t even know about them. Furthermore, this is a lot of foods to avoid unless food is cooked specifically for me, so occasionally I do still eat them when at a restaurant or a party.
On the other hand, it’s not that I’m ‘throwing the word “allergy” around loosely’. The reason I had gone to the allergist is that I had a skin rash on my face that persisted for two months. It was red, itchy, and burning, and kept me up at night (though by the time I got an appointment with the allergist it had mostly resolved on its own). Also, when I stopped eating all these foods I noticed a persistent headache went away. Both of these problems still do sometimes flare up especially when I eat these foods.
In short, my allergies are not life-threatening, however they’re quite real. What would you suggest that I do?
Ruchira, you actually do have allergies, so of course you should tell waiters and people that you visit for dinner or whatever the dining situation is, that you are allergic to those foods. I am talking about people who say that they are allergic because they don’t like something; if you are truly allergic, you don’t ask for it “on the side.” This is the kind of person I am talking about: http://thebitchywaiter.com/2014/07/this-woman-lies-about-allergies-and-is-fine-with-it.html Hope this clarifies my post. Good luck with your allergies, any kind of allergy is terrible. Thanks for your comment. CC
Thank you for the clarification, Christina. Yes, i understand now what you are talking about.
Sorry, that link had some coarse language, I forgot to warn you, but it’s so very concise! :)