The Pea Off Campaign

Pea Off is a Pea Allergy awareness campaign. Peas are not currently included in the Food Standards Agency's list of 14 major allergens. Food law requires businesses handling food to tell their customers if their products contain the 14 major allergens. However, many people live with allergies and intolerances ranging from mild to severe of other food types not included in the 14 major allergens list. The food law does not protect these people.

So why focus on peas specifically? Recently developments in food production have seen peas being used in different ways. This includes pea byproducts such as pea fibre and pea protein. These can appear in gluten free food, protein enriched food, as well as being included in everyday foods that previously did not include peas or pea byproducts. An example of this is the addition of pea flour as a binding agent in pork sausages. As peas are not included within the 14 major allergens list there is no requirement to highlight these ingredients or label them correctly. There is also a lack of awareness from food manufacturers, who sometimes use vegetable fibre as a catch all without realising that peas are an allergen.

This campaign will highlight the issue of pea byproducts not being labelled correctly, and make the general public and food manufacturers aware that allergies are more than those 14 foods.

Can you tell us a time you remember your pea allergy having an impact on you?

Since I was a small child I've known I was allergic to peas. It made for some interesting conversations during school dinners as no one ever believed me. I managed through persuasion and tantrums to avoid being force fed them.

I knew consuming peas would bring on a severe allergic reaction but I didnt know how bad this could be. The first time I realised quite how serious it was when I was around 8 years old and washing the dishes.

My mum had been eating peas for tea, an occasional treat allowed in the house. I'd decided to be helpful and wash the dishes, another occasional treat for my mum. I started to feel a bit hot and itchy, and my eyes were hurting. I kept rubbing at my eyes until my vision started to get very blurry. I walked into the living room where my mum looked at me in shock. The skin contact with the peas had caused my face to swell up and I'd been rubbing it into my eyes. She rushed me to hospital and I've never knowingly touched peas since. It terrifies me to think what would happen if I swallowed some.

Does having a pea allergy affect your day to day life?

Well it didn't used to. I knew what meals to avoid and would always er on the side of caution, for example I would never eat a Cornish Pasty as I couldn't guarantee there weren't peas inside.

However now with the proliferation of pea protein, pea flour, and pea fibre I have to check most things I buy. This has got progressively worse over the past few years. I would buy something innocuous like chips, cook them, start eating and then quickly my lips would start swelling and my throat would start to itch. I would check the packaging and yep, there's pea flour in them. This has happened with chips, sausages, breaded chicken, cereal, ham, and lots of other things. I've now got to the point where I check everything but because it's not an allergen and is usually a minor ingredient it can be pretty hidden.

I'd managed for over 30 years to go without an epipen but recently it's got to the point where I've had to get a prescription and start taking it out when I go out for food.

What would you like to see happen?

I'd love to be able to not have to check all the ingredients of everything I buy, every single time I buy them. And if I did have a check I'd love it if I could find whether it had peas in it easily.

If you're worried about pea allergies you should contact your GP or Healthcare professional.

Support can also be found at Anaphylaxis UK and Allergy UK