Hot topics

Intolerances and allergies

The issue

A food allergy is an adverse immune response to a food protein. These kinds of allergies occur when the body's immune system mistakenly identifies a protein as harmful. The immune system, thinking the person eating the food is under attack from a foreign body, triggers an allergic reaction.

These reactions can range from mild to severe. Allergic responses include dermatitis (a skin inflammation), gastrointestinal and respiratory distress, and can be as severe as life-threatening anaphylaxis, where the person is no longer able to breathe properly and their blood pressure drops to dangerously low levels. Some of the most common allergies in the UK are to peanuts, seafood and milk.

Food intolerance, or to use its full more technical name 'non-allergic food hypersensitivity', is a term used to describe a wide range of physiological responses associated with a particular food or ingredient found in a range of foods. While an intolerance is far less extreme than an allergy, it is still a negative reaction, often delayed, to a food, beverage, food additive, or compound found in foods. While this negative reaction can be quite severe, it is not technically an allergy as it does not involve an immune response from the body. More likely, it will involve the body's inability to digest a certain food properly. Some of the most common food intolerances in the UK are to milk, alcohol and gluten (known as coeliac disease).

What others are saying

Allergy UK is one of the country's leading medical charities dealing with allergy, helping thousands of allergy sufferers in the UK on a daily basis. It does this through a dedicated helpline manned by a team of trained allergy advisors, there to provide support and information for allergy sufferers.

Originally named the British Allergy Foundation, it was formed as a registered charity in 1991 by a group of medical specialists determined to improve awareness, management and treatment of allergy. The charity states that allergies are widespread and affect approximately one in four of the population in the UK at some time in their lives. And the problem is growing, with its research stating that each year the numbers are increasing by 5% with as many as half of all those affected being children.

Allergy UK receives many enquiries every year from allergy sufferers wanting information about food products available that will not cause their allergies to become worse. It states that "With over 20% of the UK population suffering from allergies at one time in their lives, it is becoming increasingly important for companies to provide products they can use safely."

Sainsbury's position

We aim to be the first choice for customers with special diets and were the first major retailer to develop a 'freefrom' category as far back as 2002. This has now been re-launched with the backing of market-leading online and in-store support. We have improved taste, quality and packaging and added over 100 new and improved lines. With 228 products in all, this is by far our biggest ever freefrom range.

In addition, customers will now be able to print off monthly updated lists and our new coeliac leaflets from our website. This will make it easier for them to see which of our own brand products are suitable for their allergy or intolerance.