Here at Eve Smallgoods we DO NOT add SULPHITES to our products. Many businesses in the meat industry and other food industries in Australia are using Sulphites in their products.

“We have something to say now about this which can be both viewed as funny and dangerous. In 1990 we made fresh Nuernberger Bratwurst in the same way as has been done for generations overseas, the food authority came to us and specifically said “that we have to use sulphur dioxide in this product otherwise we are killing our customers”. This came as a total shock because at that time overseas you would loose your masters degree and go to jail if you used sulphur dioxide in any product. We are talking here about freely available sulphur dioxide in a 5L container freely poured into the product mix. I was thinking to myself that the food authority actually want me to kill people here. I never followed his advice, in all the years nobody died overseas without that poison added to the product . Mind you at this time the food authority had no knowledge, how they became food authorities beats me. Who gave the food authority the right to tell someone who has trained for years overseas in this industry what they should do. Today the food authority has changed, they have more knowledge.”

Below is some information about sulphites taken from the Food Intolerance Network.

Sulphites are some of the oldest and most widespread preservatives in our food supply. They were used in Greek and Roman times in wine, but it was only in the 1880s that their use in as preservatives in meats was pioneered by Australian and South American beef producers wanting to ship their products to England. The use of sulphites in fruit and vegetables became common with the growth of the processed food industry in the twentieth century.

Sulphites destroy thiamine (Vitamin B1) so some experts recommend that foods which are a significant source of thiamine, such as meats, dairy foods and cereals should not be sulphited. In Australia, a number of pet cats and dogs have died from thiamine deficiency due to a steady diet of pet meat containing unlisted sulphites. Since sulphites cleave the thiamine molecule, thiamine in vitamin supplements can also be destroyed by sulphites. For this reason, in the USA there has been a total prohibition on the use of sulphites in meats since 1959, although sulphited meats such as sausages are still widely eaten in other English and Spanish speaking countries. Sulphites are also thought to destroy folic acid.

Sulphites have been associated with the full range of food intolerance symptoms including headaches, irritable bowel symptoms, behaviour disturbance and skin rashes but are best known for their effects on asthmatics since the well publicised ‘salad bar’ deaths of the 1970s and 80s when there were hundreds of reports of severe reactions and at least 12 asthmatics died from eating salads that had been sprayed with sulphites in restaurants. This use was banned in the USA in 1986, but a move by the US Food and Drug Administration in 1990 to prohibit the use of sulphites on frozen french fries was defeated on procedural grounds in a court battle with the potato industry.

At first sulphites were thought to affect only a small percentage of the population but in 1984, Australian researchers found that more than 65% of asthmatic children were sensitive to sulphites, and in 1999 the conservative World Health Organisation (WHO) revised upward their estimate of the number of sulphite-sensitive asthmatic children, from 4% to 20-30%.

On the recommendation of the WHO, food regulators have been working slowly to reduce the use of large amounts of sulphite preservatives in our foods. However, for children this reduction can be offset by increasing promotion of dried fruit as a healthy snack under new canteen guidelines prompted by the obesity epidemic. Since any dose of sulphites can be too much for asthmatics, individuals must learn how to avoid sulphites for themselves.

How to avoid sulphites

(adapted from Fed Up with Asthma by Sue Dengate, published by Random House Australia, 2003)

For starters, avoid everything containing listed ingredients in the range 220-228:

  • 220 Sulphur dioxide
  • 221 Sodium sulphite
  • 222 Sodium bisulphite
  • 223 Sodium metabisulphite
  • 224 Potassium metabisulphite
  • 225 Potassium sulphite
  • 228 Potassium bisulphite

However, many of the sulphites you eat will be in unlabelled foods. When you look at the sulphite lists below, you can see why an additive-free low-salicylate diet works so well for sulphite-sensitive asthmatics. By avoiding processed foods and salicylates in fruit, fruit drinks, dried fruit, fruit flavoured breakfasts, cookies, snacks, muesli bars, yoghurt, icecream and confectionery, you are also getting rid of sulphites.

There is a big gap between reading sulphite lists and understanding whether the food you buy or a restaurant meal contains sulphites. The best way to find out which foods contain sulphites is to ask consumers who are particularly sulphite sensitive.

Liz, a sulphite-sensitive asthmatic from Australia, recommends avoiding sausages, all processed deli meats, cordials, jams, shop produced fruit salad, pickled anything with vinegar, shop bought hot chips, dried foods like apricots and ‘anything that isn’t natural’.

Rick Williams from the USA, who runs the Nosulfites website, suffers severe headaches from eating the smallest quantities of sulphites. The list of sulphites in US processed foods below gives an idea of the size of the problem. ‘Current regulations discourage the use of large amounts of sulfites,’ says Rick. ‘Today, the problem is low levels of sulfur dioxide in practically everything you touch.’ Sulphites under 10 ppm in the US do not have to be listed but they will all contribute to your sulphite intake.

A 1994 survey by Australian food regulators found sulphites in more than half the foods tested including such staples as bread and margarine, with sulphites higher in white bread than wholemeal.

If you look at ingredient listings of fast food companies, you will see that few of the ingredients have sulphites listed. This does not mean that the foods are sulphite-free. Small amounts of sulphites all add up, in processed food ingredients like corn syrup solids, cornstarch, maltodextrin, potato starch and flakes, beet sugar, bottled lemon juice used for flavouring and dressings, glucose syrup, the caramel colour used in cola drinks and sulphites in pizza crust. If the level of sulphites exceeds 10ppm it is required to be listed on the Ingredients panel, but often it is not.

The easiest way to avoid sulphites is to avoid all processed foods. The foods in failsafe shopping lists are sulphite-free except for some gluten-free flours with sulphite residues. Fresh fruit and vegetables are sulphite-free. Dried tree fruit such as apricots, peaches, apples and pears are mostly sulphited unless from specialty stores (see dangers of dried fruit factsheet) Dates, prunes, figs, sultanas and raisins may be sulphite-free but can contain extra high levels of salicylates. If you have done your elimination diet and challenges, and found that you react to only sulphites, you can add back the food chemicals which don’t cause problems. This is the hard part – reintroducing foods without making mistakes. If your symptoms recur, you need to go back a few steps.