Annatto
This is a natural product used to color foods yellow, orange and red.
Foods we have found with Annatto:
- Orange Cheeses (Velveeta, Cheddar, Colby, most American slices, etc.)
- Vanilla flavored items (Yogurt, Ice Cream, Grandma’s Bakery cupcakes, Pound Cake, cake cones)
- Orange-colored snacks/crackers (Cheez-its, Goldfish, Cheese Balls, Graham Crackers, cake cones for ice cream)
- Lemon flavored or yellow colored items (Girl Scout lemon cookies, sugar free lemon cookies)
- Italian pre-prepared dishes (Stouffer’s Italian sausage lasagna, Davanni’s lasagna)
- Breadings/Crusts (breaded chicken patties, breaded shrimp, the crust on McDonalds Apple Pie)
- Breads (Village Hearth Old Fashioned Hamburger Buns, Most Pillsbury Canned rolls)
- Seasoning (seasoning on French Fries, Southern/Cajun Seafood seasoning, McDonald Angus Burger Seasoning)
- Dressings/Sauces (Robusto Italian Salad Dressing, McDonalds Hot Mustard Dipping Sauce, Davanni’s Italian Salad Dressing, Olive Garden’s Salad Dressing)
- Non ‘Vanilla’ Dairy Products (margarine, butter, Egg Nog, non-dairy whipped topping)
In almost all categories, we are
able to find some brands that do have Annatto and some products that do not have
Annatto. We check the ingredients of everything before feeding Mr. Cheerful. If it
says Annatto or Natural Color – he can't eat it!!! We never make an assumption that soemthing does or doesn’t have Annatto – if it is questionable or we aren't able to read
the ingredients – we DON ’T feed it to
him!!!
Other natural colorants that we've found are caramel, beets, turmeric, saffron, paprika and elderberry juice. Oh, and if you go to Starbucks, I believe they use beetles! (if you have not heard the stories about Starbucks ground up beetles you need to catch up!).
I'm usually pretty happy when I see artificially colored - which is such a joke because I'm one of those freaks that likes all natural, all organic stuff!
Interesting info on Annatto: http://foodreference.about.com/od/Food-Additives/a/What-Is-Annatto.htm
Interesting info on Annatto: http://foodreference.about.com/od/Food-Additives/a/What-Is-Annatto.htm
Found your post when Googling "annatto French Fries." My son, too, has an annatto issue, though more of an intolerance than an allergy. Annatto causes him significant behavioral effects including irritability and rage. So my son can start out as a "Mr. Cheerful" and wind up as "Mr. Mean and Nasty." Yes, annatto can be in anything but you do learn the more likely culprits. (Add "French Fries at ski lodge" to the list.) Good luck to you and your family.
ReplyDeleteIt was most likely in batter on the fries or the seasoning they put on them. Look at the Seasoning category above - fries are already in there. Might need to revise breading to read breading/batter. So very scary how many places this can be. Your symptoms, while not deadly, sound awful too. Best of luck as you work through this and thanks for posting :)
DeleteI am so happy to have found your site. For over a year I have a reaction to something unknown. I have itched so bad that I have been unable to sleep and ended up only sleeping a few hours a night when I would take benadryl. I ended up living with benadryl at my bedside table in my purse in my car it was everywhere, and I was always tired but hardly ever able to sleep. The weird thing is that I am well.....we will just 40 something and I have never had an allergy to any food. Suddenly I'm itching all over. To make a long story short I omitted everything from my diet only ate white rice added pineapples added another food every few days. Everything I ate with red dye #40 (the nasty beetle) yellow dyes and annato causes me to feel like I have worms crawling under my skin. I found my culprit one year ago I started taking nexium for gi problems. I have found that my problems started with an allergy to the dye in the pill/ capsule coating. I found this out by trial and error and going through many go pills. My gi Dr said there is no way you can be having an allergic reaction to this new one too it's a completely different drug classification. I talked to many pharmacists none of them could help then one day when at the grocery store I decided to ask the pharmacist she was alittle Chinese woman. She told me that many capsules and pill coatings cause problems for people with red 40 allergy and that they have to have special pills made to order for them. I'm so confused! If this (red dye #40 and annato) cause so many problems for so many people then why is is used in so many products/food? For example my tresamae shampoo, which by the way caused a rash in the back of my head I was planning to get it checked by a Dr because I had the same bumps in the same spot for along time and oh my the itching. So my shampoo was clear in color but right in the ingredient list was RED#40. Why is there red in my clear shampoo? As soon as I switched to a dye free shampoo those bumps in the back of my head disappeared. I was doing some research and for that red#40 is that crazy beetle that they grind up and put in our food, soaps, drinks, and my clear shampoo. Can someone please explain why? I'm sorry to go on and on but I'm new to this and it is very overwhelming for me. However, I am very happy to have found out what has caused my itching! I want to Thank my Husband for staying with me during all of this. I probably would have been too weak to have put up with all that I have put him through. I won't go through it all but will tell you I have diatommateous earth tossed all over the interior of my house a year ago I swore we had bedbugs and after coating every inch of my house with this dust, then moving out of the house (my Mr wonderful followed me and we slept on the floor in another house well another long story.) And finding out I didn't have bedbugs. Anyway I almost lost my mind and my husband from these nasty colorings. Something needs to be done to regulate their use and make it more obvious when they are in a product.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry for the delayed response - I've been away from the site for a while. You've had such a journey. Sorry that it has been so overwhelming. I do want to clear up that Annatto and artificial red dye are not the same thing. With annatto, you want to look for where it says natural colorant. I believe that red dye #'s have to be disclosed but possibly they can just be listed as artificial color. I totally agree with you over how frustrating it can be. Best of luck as you continue to work through this.
DeleteIf something says natural color, do you avoid it because there's a chance it is annatto? Have you had any success calling a brand and asking what the natural coloring is?
ReplyDeleteWe're suffering from annatto allergies with my 15 month old. It's a pain! Happy to have found your blog!
I have had some success. It is a process but worth it so I don't suffer. I am still on the lookout for cheese and butter without annatto. I might have to start making my own butter. I am a vegetarian so my options were already limited.
DeleteSo sorry for the delayed response - I've been away from the site for a while. Yes, if it says natural color - it can be annatto (or beets or caramel or a number of other things used to naturally color our foods). I've had great luck with companies being responsive - especially because annatto is not part of the top listed allergens. They don't want the liability of you having asked ;) With any luck, he will grow out of the allergen as he ages - in the meantime keep your chin up as it can be so overwhelming and so stressful. If you can, join some allergy support groups in your area so you can commiserate with other parents.
DeleteI completely agree and sympathize with people who react (call it an allergy or sensitivity--doesn't matter) to annatto or other coloring agents. Why are they even out there? Most people have not even heard of annatto, but I avoid it like the plague. Nothing is worth the itching. I have found a cortisone cream (cortizone-10) made with only Vaseline that is truly remarkable--so wish I had found it earlier. Over the counter, not that expensive, and works almost immediately! Hope it helps someone!
ReplyDeleteSo happy i found this site. I had no idea what was causing me such bad pain in my stomach, diarrhea,and vomiting. Until my sister found annotto online. It all started to make sense. Why i could eat greek yogart but not yogart. Some custard i could n others i couldn't. Some buns would make me sick while others would not. I wish more people where aware of whether or not annotto in in their food but most places have no idea and have not even herd of annotto. So i risk the pain every time i eat something new.. its exhausting at times. Ugh!
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't easy to figure out annatto was causing my severe itching spells. It's so hard to narrow it down because of how widely annatto is used and how it varies by manufacturer. So it is natural to overlook Kraft American cheese when Borden didn't cause a problem the week before. Then you come up with something else you ate that day to blame until you cautiously add it back and find out that wasn't it. Only when the problems persist and you start to read labels closely do you realize this mysterious ingredient annatto is the problem and not the things one might initially suspect like the main ingredient or artificial colors.
ReplyDeleteI have found an antihistamine helps a lot with the itching. I can't imagine what would happen if I ever ate something like annatto rubbed fish (Latino cuisine) by accident.
Also, I believe annatto is supposed to be listed as an ingredient. When it says color added it always turns out to be beta carotene. But someone could make a mistake especially at a small food maker.
Something else that NEEDS to be on this list is Hot Chocolate and Chocolate products. My mom and I, whom has a sensitivity to Annatto, has found it in a few Hot Chocolate products (esp. Western Family products) and a few chocolate bars. Also we've seen it on Kraft products (esp. Kraft Dinner, but ALWAYS read the ingredients on EVERYTHING made my Kraft). Basically for my mom and I a half-hour shopping trip turns into a 1-2 HOUR expedition, because we have to read the ingredients on EVERYTHING we buy. Why put RED/ORANGE food coloring on something BROWN?
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know if any country that has banned annatto please? Asking as my Mam cannot have annatto and can eat very little but has found can eat Belgium chocolate and biscuits (Guylian shells and lotus Biscoff) so maybe everything made in a country that has banned it would be eatable? Also anyone know of a sauce without annatto?
ReplyDeleteHello! I see that you avoid other “natural flavors”, is that because you’re allergic to them as well or just the Annatto? Thank you!
ReplyDelete