A new trend in the alcohol beverage industry is labeling their products as being “allergy-free” and using this claim to charge more for their product. The article I found by Food & Wine breaks down the validity of these claims. The allergist consulted in the article points out that being “allergy-free” is a very blanket statement because there is no guarantee that something is 100% “allergy-free”.
The claim of products being “allergy-free” is a newer trend that I’ve been seeing pop up in the food industry. As mentioned by the article that goes more in depth in it, there is no such thing as being 100% allergy free. Allergies as a whole are extremely diverse with most foods being potential allergens for at least a portion of the population no matter who small or large that proportion may be. So while foods and beverages can be “allergy-friendly” meaning free of most common allergens, being completely allergy free isn’t realistic.
In summary the article iterates that while these beverages are potentially “allergy-friendly” they’re not “allergy-free”. A point that I thought was interesting is that spirits are typically distilled meaning that a lot of the proteins responsible for allergens are removed throughout this process so those will generally be more allergen friendly. However, if you flavor those spirits or they’re aged in barrels, this opens up more opportunities to introduce more potential allergens.
Original article: Are Allergy-Free Spirits Legitimate? Allergists Break It Down (foodandwine.com)
Photo from Are Allergy-Free Spirits Legitimate? Allergists Break It Down (foodandwine.com)