Peanut butter may be back on the menu in allergy-shy schools, hospitals and airlines after Australian researchers have developed an almost identical peanut-like product made out of the humble mung bean.
Many institutions now ban peanut products over fears people with allergies could have a potentially lethal anaphylactic shock, and earlier this week Australia was named the world leader in food allergies.
But Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre general manager Ken Quail hopes his mung bean paste could revolutionise the industry and give organisations and companies peace of mind.
“It eliminates risk in a whole lot of ways,” he told the ABC.
“Airlines can serve it to anybody, it takes out that enormous risk they face in serving any products with peanuts.
“What they do now is totally avoid them, and this could totally overcome that.”
The flavour, Dr Quail admits, may not be able to fool everyone.
“Some people who don’t know what they’re trying can’t pick it from peanut butter,” he said.
“Both in colour, texture and taste, it’s very similar.”
He said mung beans also stacked up extremely well nutritionally as a good source of protein, and were low in fat and high in dietary fibre.
The centre has taken out a patent on the product, and has sold the rights to a company which has produced some commercially available spreads, including chocolate, crunchy and smooth “not nut” butter.
But the real test will be how domestic organisations and businesses react to serving the beans in place of their regular peanut fare.
“I think the really interesting example [is] of the airlines or hospitals, where they are serving meals with say satay sauce, they can have it made without peanuts,” Dr Quail said.
“You’ve totally eliminated that risk. Airlines can serve it to anybody.”
Food bans not the answer as it makes people ‘complacent’
But not everyone believes food bans and replacements are the best way to prevent harm.
Natasha Couzens was a young mum living in Kununnura, more than 3,000km north-east of Perth, near the Northern Territory border, when her son first had an anaphylactic reaction.
She fed him peanut butter when he was 20 months old and his face swelled up immediately, and he had to be taken by ambulance to hospital for a six-hour stay.
“I was probably in shock for quite a few days,” she said.
“It’s a game changer.
“You live your life in certain ways, and then that happens and it’s basically a bridge you cross and you never go back.”
Ms Couzens, who has launched a training service educating people about anaphylaxis, said a replacement product would be welcome, but risk management was most important.
She said at Izac’s school, parents were extremely supportive, but there was no ban on peanuts or other allergen-causing foods.
“[A ban] is not a great solution, because you can get complacent with that,” she said.
“The minute you think something’s safe, your level of awareness becomes dramatically reduced.”
Allergy and Anaphylaxis Australia president Maria Said warned while peanuts were a problem for some, there were many other foods that posed a risk and blanket bans and replacements for particular foods was not the way forward.
“I think it’s great that we have companies thinking outside the square and providing food for people with special dietary needs, especially people with anaphylaxis,” she said.
“But I think we need to be realistic about removal of other healthy nutritious foods from the marketplace, and replacing them simply because of allergy.”
This post originally appeared on ABC News.
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Top Comments
I believe specific plans need to be developed for each school/child situation. It is not a one size fits all. My daughter has multiple severe allergies and I support some bans, sometimes, so the child can access school without feeling sick because of exposure to allergens, it is not just anaphalaytic reactions that are a problem. I think bans need to be specific to the child in that school community, for example my daughter was not allergic to peanuts, yet her school banned peanuts. This did not help her. Her allergens were present in the school, including in the classroom making her ill regularly. I support more mung bean products being used. Mung beans have been considered the lowest allergen/good protein source for a while. It makes good sense to have a low risk/high nutrition food available suitable for schools. I do think that the peak groups representing allergies need to understand that it should be up to the school and the child with the allergy (their parents) to come up with a plan that suits that child. These blanket statements saying what is best are not helpful. We also went the pro biotic/low wheat program (for baby) to build good bacteria, as we have heard from several experts that this is the way forward.