Thursday, June 29, 2006

Colour in Cheese

Here's the package of cheese that pushed me over the edge and prompted me to actually start the blog. It's a package of Armstong Cheddar Cheese (medium) purchased in British Columbia that states, "may contain colour". Really? I thought milk came out of the cow this colour!

The Beginning - The May Contain Blog

My son has a peanut allergy, and since we learned about it almost three years ago now, my wife and I have been students of the ingredients label - always searching for the "may contain trace amounts of peanuts" warning. We're lucky here in Canada that there are pretty decent labeling laws, in that if there's any "may contain" statement and it doesn't say peanuts, we feel pretty safe about the product. Legislation was passed late last year in the US that means you should be seeing a lot more detail about which products contain allergens there as well.

That's all fine and dandy, but this isn't a blog about allergens. It's a blog about all the stupid stuff that products "may contain". My very favorite dates back to before we even had kids, and I'll be sure to find an example for you, but it's basically any package that "may contain one or more of the following:" ?!??! WTF - you don't know what you've put in your product?!? One or more of the following? Sheesh.

So if you've got a funny "may contain" story, send it on to maycontainblog@gmail.com. If you can include a picture that'd be great, but at least let us know the name of the product and the country you're in (yes, for some reason the same product made in a different country may have different ingredients, or at least different labeling requirements). Thanks, and enjoy the absurdity!