Graze recalls ‘vegan’ snack that contained milk

Snack company Graze has recalled a product it labelled as suitable for vegans that actually contained milk.

The Food Standards Agency said the Sea Salt and Vinegar Veg Crunchers also posed a “health risk for anyone with an allergy or intolerance to milk”.

The affected batches have best before dates of 20 June, 28 June and 2 July 2019, the FSA added.

Graze apologised for the “incorrect vegan claim” and told customers with allergies not to eat the product.

“The health and safety of our customers is of the utmost importance to us”, the company said, adding that no other products had been affected.

In February, the London-based brand – which started out a decade ago as a snack box delivery service – was purchased by the conglomerate Unilever in a deal believed to be worth around £100m.

Graze products are sold in shops such Sainsbury’s, Boots, WH Smith and Tesco, as well as online and direct to consumers.

The BBC contacted Unilever for comment but is yet to receive a response.

Late last year, the FSA said undeclared allergens were found in a quarter of food samples from UK businesses – with 673 out of 2,862 tests since 2016 described as “unsatisfactory”.

And, earlier this year, stronger food labelling laws were proposed to prevent the deaths of people with allergies.

It came after the death of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, 15, of Fulham, west London, who suffered an allergic reaction to a Pret a Manger baguette in 2016.

The inquest into Natasha’s death heard the teenager was “reassured” by the lack of specific allergen information on the packaging when she bought the sandwich at Heathrow Airport.

But the baguette contained sesame seeds, which caused her to go into cardiac arrest on a flight.

The sandwich chain later said a second customer was believed to have died from an allergic reaction to a product containing a non-dairy yoghurt.

The person died in 2017 after eating a “super-veg rainbow flatbread” which was supposed to be dairy-free.

Pret said it was mis-sold a guaranteed dairy-free yoghurt, as it contained dairy protein.

But the company who sold Pret the yoghurt denied that it was to blame and said the “true cause” is unknown.