British snack brands are set to be pulled from the supermarket shelves in the UK, amid concerns about a link between peanuts and allergies.
In a statement, the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) said it had received more than 2,500 calls and sent out more than 300 food safety alerts to food manufacturers over the last week.
The FSA said it was working with a number of UK manufacturers to ensure that all products are safe to eat and the products were recalled.
It added that the products will be returned to retailers as quickly as possible.
It comes after the UK government published its latest food safety guidance, in which it warned consumers about the link between the peanut-containing snack and an increased risk of food poisoning.
The government said the new guidelines were designed to reassure consumers about peanut allergies, but it acknowledged that some people may be at increased risk.
“The latest food guidance is not intended to be a substitute for advice from your doctor or other healthcare provider, nor should it replace it,” the UK FSA said.
“Foods that contain peanuts should not be eaten or handled by children under 10.”
There is a long history of people being allergic to peanuts, the British Food Association (BFA) said.
In 2015, a British doctor published a study which linked the peanut in some foods to an increased incidence of allergies.
That study also found that people who were allergic to peanut had higher rates of a range of diseases including asthma, asthma attacks, heart problems and rheumatoid arthritis.
The British Food Safety Authority (Fsa) said in a statement that the government’s guidelines were “not a substitute to your doctor’s advice or for other medical advice, and should not substitute for the advice of your healthcare provider or other qualified healthcare practitioner.”
“The advice given by your doctor may not always be the same as the advice that is offered by FSA, and is not necessarily a substitute in all circumstances,” the statement added.
The UK government is also reviewing the ingredients in British products, including those from Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer, Sanka, Waitangi, Tesco and Aldi.
The agency said the government was also considering a ban on the sale of all processed peanuts in the US.
The statement comes after Britain’s government issued a warning to its food manufacturers, warning that peanut allergies could be more common than previously thought.
The food watchdog said more than 3,000 people had been diagnosed with peanut allergy in the past two years.