Posted By J Knight Where are these peanut contaminated vegetables growing? If you're in the Lincolnshire coffee belt I believe that the harmful effects of the peanuts might be increased by residual caffeine in the yam tubers. On the other hand, growing yer cassava beneath the wind-tossed oil palm trees of Huntingdonshire has no such synergistic effect. We can't grow peanuts in Britain, is the long and short of it, (what was that post about global warming?) John

Posted By J Knight Israel was the baby potatoes, I assume that with Andy's email address he's based in the UK. This probably isn't Tesco, 'cos they operate abroad and presumably do know the difference between the wheat belts of east Anglia and the semi-deserts of the middle esat. Or am I wrong? (one of our HR managers used to work for Tesco in Poland, helping the local farmers on their Yak and Caribou herds; terrible trouble with the local leopards eating the calves), John

Posted By J Knight My point is that the supermarket's reaction to the episode of the Israeli potatoes was to require a company growing and processing veg in Britain to produce a Peanut policy. This is because of residual peanut contamination in an Israeli farm causing a reaction in one of the (nameless) supermarket's customers. Vegetables grown in Britain could not be affected by residual peanut contamination in the soil (unless some psychotic farmer went around deliberately ploughing peanuts into the field), because peanuts do not grow (cannot, in fact be grown) in the UK. Hence the geographically challenged nature of some of my comments. So why should a UK veg grower have to demonstrate their policy on peanuts, and what else could it say other than 'not having the technology to heat Linconshire to 30 degrees year round we do not grow potatoes in our vegetable fields'? Now, if they processed anything other than UK grown veg in their plant (no pun intended) there might be a point, but it sounds like they don't, so there ain't. Truly, 'tis safety gone mad, John

Posted By Heather Aston John I think this was a WOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH. I read the OP as saying it was his company - which "procures and packs" veggies - who had procured and packed said baby potatoes complete with peanut contamination. However reading it again it doesn't specifically say that - it could be someone else altogether who had the unfortunate peanut/potato experience and you could indeed be right that his company grows all its stuff in the UK and has merely got dragged into this because they supply supermarkets. If this is so then you're right about the one liner "we don't grow our vegetables in countries where they grow peanuts". If however they do grow or "procure" veggies in other countries then they need to exercise due diligence with their suppliers. This is a common occurrence for manufacturers. For example we are required to state that components supplied to the major car manufacturers contain below certain levels of lead, cadmium, etc. To do this we have to work with our suppliers to ensure this is the case. It has strong implications for the recyclability of cars at the end of their life - bit of a big topic at the moment. Anyway if the OP would plase enlighten us as to whether they pack foreign veggies or not, we can be a bit more precise! Heather

Posted By Heather Aston Tom The nuts are the ones who haven't gone home yet........... Heather

Posted By Zoe Barnett I must take issue with the statement that you can't grow peanuts in the UK. Local authorities clearly manage it - how else would they be able to pay their staff?

Posted By Zoe Barnett Careful you don't get a cannabis plant from the birdseed!

Posted By DavidHaddon Sorry to drag you all back to the issue in question, but... www.anaphlaxis.org.uk The website for the anaphlaxis campaign might be a good place to start. Your policy will probably boil down to mentioning the fact that no peanuts or peanut byproducts are handled in the factory. As latex is also capable of bringing on a similar fatal allergic reaction, the rubber glove/balloon policy must be next on the agenda! On a more serious note, whilst we all hate to see the safety bandwagon careering out of control, it probably seems more important to those people at risk of a painful death if they eat a snickers bar.

Posted By Tom Clark On a serious note - Thanks for info Alex - I know a young lady who was greatful for the information. If she has any nut residue it would give her a very adverse reaction. One nut in particular is life threatening and could cause instant death. Regards Tom