Letter: A Warning That New Food Colouring Called Annatto Can Trigger Nut Allergy

Paul Farrow shares his experience discovering a new ingredient being used to replace chemical food dyes, and warns readers of the cross-reaction potential for those with nut allergies.

Annatto, an orange-red condiment and food coloring derived from the seeds of the achiote tree (Bixa orellana), native to tropical parts of the Americas. Image source: Wikipedia

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

I’ve suffered from severe nut allergies my whole life and have learned to be militant about checking labels for known allergens. However, I have been quite sick for a while and finally found the problem: a new “natural” food colour approved by Health Canada in 2023 is now showing up on the grocery store shelves in many food products. 

This new additive is called annatto, and it's labelled as a “natural” food colourant. 

We found it in Multigrain Cheerios first, after eliminating almost all foods as we tried to determine what was causing my illness.

Once we knew what we were looking for, we quickly discovered annatto is in cheese slices, Cheese Whiz, goldfish crackers, Kraft dinner (in the cheese sauce), and non-orange coloured items like seasoning salt and D'italiano bread (their Brizziolo flavour only). 

My wife did some research and found that annatto comes from a plant indigenous to South America. It's classified as a “seed pod.”

But for people with severe allergies like mine – it's a nut.

My symptoms over the last few months have included difficulty breathing, stomach upset with extreme dehydration, weight loss, a complete lack of energy, and brain fog. My doctor did plenty of tests but couldn’t figure out what was wrong, and eventually, I was put on Prednisone for the breathing issues I was having.

It's a good thing the ingestion amount was so low, with about 2 ounces of multigrain Cheerios on top of my regular Cheerios daily. I've been trying to figure out why I don’t like Cheese Whiz anymore, as it's been a safe food my entire life. 

We've now found that annatto has been added to every processed (orange) cheese product we've checked, including cheese slices, Kraft dinner, PC frozen Mac n cheese, blocks of mild, med, old and marble cheddar, and every orange-coloured cracker, including Bits 'n Bites. Many of these items were considered safe, go-to items that nut allergy people have been eating for years. 

Annatto is also found in certain breads with colouring. It's often used to colour paprika and cumin, so others with allergies need to watch for those ingredients in taco mixes etc. 

This is a safety nightmare for people with severe allergies, and I cannot imagine eating out in a restaurant now that we'll have to vet every ingredient for this commonly used additive.

Luckily, we finally figured it out, and I’m back to normal. But people need to know about this.

Please share this so families with nut or seed pod allergy sufferers have a heads-up. My wife and I both fear severe allergic reactions in young children who have nut allergies. Lots of kids have a more severe reaction than I do, and eating annatto – even though it's classified as a seed pod – could be deadly.

We have no idea what ingestion level it may take to cause an anaphylactic reaction on a person-by-person basis, and I certainly don't want anyone else to experience the sickness I have for the past months.

We are writing a letter to Health Canada and starting a petition to ask them to reevaluate their clearance of this new natural food colourant. We believe their agency should issue a notice/warning regarding allergic responses to annatto in those with nut and seed pod allergies. Further, annatto should be listed as a “priority food allergen” alongside peanuts and tree nuts.

We also plan to send letters to General Foods (the maker of most things with it in the ingredients) and the executives at each grocery store chain.

In the meantime, please be careful. Replacing chemical food colouring with a natural dye seems like a good idea in theory, but decisions like this can have deadly consequences for allergy sufferers. Be aware and check for annatto listed as an ingredient in your foods – even ones you’ve assumed were safe until now.

Sincerely,

Paul Farrow
South Bruce Peninsula

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Letters to the Editor do not necessarily reflect the opinions or beliefs of The Owen Sound Current and its editor or publisher.