Are Nut Ingredients Accurately Labeled on Granola Bars?

Résumé

Individuals with allergies can have serious health complications after consuming foods with certain allergens. It can be difficult to ensure that packaged food will be allergen-free and can be safely consumed. Peanut and tree nut (Almond, Brazil Nut, Cashew, Hazelnut, Macadamia, Pecan, Pistachio, Walnut) allergies are some of the main food-induced reasons of anaphylaxis. We sought to determine whether we could detect all tree nut ingredients as labeled on granola bar packaging and predicted that all (100%) of the granola bars will be accurately labelled. We used 5 types of granola bars and isolated DNA from them. We conducted a polymerase chain reaction to detect 8 types of nuts in our samples. We ran the samples on a gel and analyzed the presence of tree nuts. We successfully detected nut products as labeled on the granola bar packaging in 4/5 (80%) of the samples. However, one granola bar sample labeled as “contains almonds” and almond powder (positive control) were not detected by the primer set leading to 1/5 (20%) false negative in the granola bar samples. Granola bars contain ingredients as listed on their packaging, suggesting that they can be trusted by consumers. Based on our findings, people should be cautious as there may be cross-contamination between tree nut allergens and peanut-free products.