Information about pea protein for people with peanut allergy

April 2022

People with peanut allergy may have an allergic reaction if they eat foods containing ingredients that come from peas, such as pea protein or pea protein isolate. Peas include:

Peas and pea proteins aren't priority food allergens in Canada so aren't subject to Canada's enhanced allergen labelling regulations. However, the list of ingredients must identify them whenever they're a primary ingredient in a prepackaged food. The use of pea protein, or pea protein isolate, as a plant protein ingredient in North America and Europe in foods has been increasing in recent years.

Background

Peas are genetically related to peanuts since both are part of the legume family. There's evidence that some people with peanut allergy may also have allergic reactions if they eat pea protein (Lavine 2019; Hildebrand 2020; Soller 2021). However, the risk of experiencing a severe reaction is expected to be low (Taylor et al., 2021).

Food manufacturers are using pea proteins more widely as protein sources and as ingredients in a variety of foods. For example, they can be used as substitutes for gluten and for animal protein because of their emulsifying and gelling properties (Caudreanu-Morel 2019). People eating these foods could be exposed to higher amounts of pea protein than when eating whole peas because the protein has been extracted and concentrated.

Canadian labelling requirements

Health Canada requires that pea proteins are included in the ingredient list for prepackaged foods. Some food manufacturers are adding a warning to food labels indicating potential allergenicity of foods with pea ingredients for individuals with allergies to other legumes, such as peanuts. However, this type of warning isn't mandatory under current food allergen labelling regulations and not all manufacturers use them.  

If you or your family member has a peanut allergy:

If you aren't sure if a prepackaged food contains pea protein, contact the company named on the label.

What we're doing

Health Canada continues to review new information as it becomes available.  We work with food allergy stakeholders to inform and educate people with allergies.  These stakeholders include:

Contact information

For more information on this issue, please contact Health Canada's Bureau of Chemical Safety at bcs-bipc@hc-sc.gc.ca and add the words "pea protein" to the subject line of your e-mail.

References

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