This is a little like a company making a life jacket . . . that’s not intended for people who can’t swim.
A company called Nurtured Nuts has developed a new “allergy-free” peanut butter, and they’re hoping to get their products on shelves sometime next year.
How did they do it? They use peanuts developed with gene-editing technology, which reduce levels of three proteins associated with severe allergic reactions.
That sounds HUGE, because peanut allergies are “a leading cause of food-induced anaphylaxis, which can cause throats to swell shut, airways to constrict, and blood pressure to plummet into fatal shock.”
But don’t get too excited . . . yet. This “special peanut butter” is NOT safe for people with peanut allergies, apparently.
Allergists say people can be allergic to many different components of peanuts . . . not just the proteins that are reduced in these.
Also, “there is no blood or skin test that would be able to tell a patient that these products would be safe or unsafe.”
So, they may be SAFE-R, but not SAFE. And that creates a new problem.
The labels promote the peanut butter as: Quote, “All of the flavor, none of the allergies,” and “allergen-less.”
And you have to look at the fine print to see this: “[These] products are not intended for consumption for people with peanut allergies.”
Overall, it sounds like they’re trying to “provide a greater margin of safety if exposure occurs” . . . not “give patients permission to freely eat peanuts.” But some people worry that people will mistake them for being SAFE.
View this post on Instagram