Something that’s often overlooked is the cross contamination risk from peanuts in lip balm and face/body products. Many lip balms and lotions contain nut oils. Using a lip balm that is processed in a facility with peanuts poses the same risk for someone with a peanut allergy as eating a food product that, 'may contain peanuts'. After all, your putting the lip balm on your lips, or your using a lotion on your face/body and if there is any trace amount of peanuts it could cause an allergic reaction. When you're spending so much time making sure that your food is safe to eat we cannot overlook these other products.
Truthfully, I had not considered the risk of cross contamination from peanuts in my lip balm or lotion until I was looking at the Badger Healthy Body Care website. My Mom likes their products and I was going to order her some lip balm and face lotion for her birthday. While I was searching through their products I noticed a frequently asked questions section and I clicked on it. Under the question about peanut allergies and their products this is what it states: "Badger products do not contain peanuts or peanut products. However, because we are not peanut-free certified, we cannot claim that our products are peanut-free. Products manufactured at our subcontractors' facilities (Lip Tints, After-Bug Balm, Shave Soap, Shampoo Bar, Canadian Sunscreens, and all SPF 25 Sunscreen Lotions (Rose, Rose Tinted & Unscented)) do not contain peanuts but may be produced on equipment that also produces products containing peanuts." Basically the products listed are produced in a facility with peanuts.
I have written in other posts that the FDA does not require brands to list any allergen cross contamination on their products. This includes such statements as a 'may contain' or 'processed in a facility with', when you see these it is voluntarily. I find this unfortunate because if a product, food or other, is made in a facility with peanuts present that item poses a huge risk for someone like me with a peanut allergy. As I reach out to more and more brands I am discovering that so many products that have a cross contamination risk have no statement about it on the product label.
After seeing what was posted on the Badger Healthy Body Care website I began to wonder, 'was my favorite lip balm and body lotion made by Alaffia safe for me to use?'
I reached out to Alaffia and received a lovely email back stating that,
“Our production facility does not use or process peanuts/peanut derived ingredients.”
I am so very relieved that I can continue to use my favorite coconut lip balm and body lotion because they are amazing; seriously they smell divine and are so nourishing, I cannot recommend them enough.
I see now that I need to include bath/body/face products in my research into what items are peanut free and produced in a peanut free facility, and not limit my lists to just foods. I have expanded my lists on the No Peanut Foods website to include a section on bath/body/face companies.