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In early 2016, the above-reproduced screenshot of an online comment began circulating online via social media, alleging that Procter & Gamble's Febreze brand odor elimination spray had triggered symptoms of a child's peanut allergy. The original author of the message, where the message was posted to, the date of the posting, and the circumstances under which the child's purported reaction occurred were unclear. One of the most popular iterations was published on 24 January 2016 by a Facebook user who said she spotted had it in an unspecified group: This singular account lacked any detail and provided no information how it was supposedly determined that Febreze had definitively triggered a child's peanut allergy, or how the parent came to discover that P&G purportedly adds peanut or tree nut oil to their products without declaring them (despite the clear danger presented by such a labeling oversight). Moreover, the comment stated the child in question had recently suffered strep throat at the time of the flare-up and therefore might have been susceptible to any number of things that could have caused such a reaction (aside from an allegedly nut-containing odor elimination spray). Overall, it appears that the parent observed a possible reaction to an environmental trigger affecting her recently-ill (or still-ill) child and simply attributed it to the coincidental spraying of Febreze. One of the only other online mentions of P&G products purportedly containing peanut oils we've found is a 2 September 2014 post on the blog Scratch & Sniff that contained some unconfirmed and conflicting information about whether fragranced P&G products were safe for individuals with peanut allergies: The post described separate efforts to determine whether individual P&G brand items were fragranced with peanut or tree nut oil derivatives: Ivory soap was deemed inconclusive, Dawn dishwashing liquid was named as a potential peanut allergen, and Febreze was also marked as an inconclusive item. Among a number of embedded images of communications with P&G brands and online comments was one that suggested Swiffer brand products contained peanut oil: On 8 September 2014, Scratch & Sniff published a follow up post that contained a transcript of a conversation between the blogger and a P&G representative, during which the representative maintained that P&G products didn't contain undeclared peanut or tree nut derivatives: (On a separate web site, a user asserted that P&G had refused to disclose ingredients to concerned parents without a doctor's note, but we were unable to substantiate that assertion.) Both Scratch or Sniff posts referenced a 20-page P&G document titled Perfume & Scents [PDF] whose introductory paragraphs explained: We were unable to find any variation of peanut or nut on the most recently published version of P&Gs scent list (coconut oil and nutmeg oil were the only hits for nut). According to the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (ACAAI), most individuals allergic to tree nuts can consume or tolerate coconut and/or nutmeg: A separate 2014 blog post by Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE) held that non-food items containing such allergens are not required to be labeled, but many such products are nonetheless irrespective of labeling requirements. Moreover, that post featured an example of ostensible allergens having minimal effect on food allergy sufferers in a different context: Another blog maintained by a food allergy expert and lawyer examined whether coconut typically triggered allergic reactions in individuals with peanut or tree nut allergies: Finally, a somewhat difficult to locate page on the P&G web site definitively addressed whether Febreze specifically contained nuts or derivatives, outlining the brand's general policy on such ingredients: However, cached versions of the above-linked ingredient list captured on 18 April 2013 [PDF] and 22 December 2014 [PDF] indeed listed peanut oil, sesame oil, and two variations of almond oil among potential fragrance components; a 10 September 2015 capture [PDF] retained the almond oil and sesame oil entries but lacked peanut oil. The 2013 and 2014 ingredient lists were current at the time the original Scratch & Sniff posts were published, and the most current published list included almond and sesame oil. On 8 February 2016, a P&G representative responded to our initial inquiry and stated: In reply to P&G's response, we asked whether Febreze or any other P&G products contained peanut or tree nut oils at any point; on 10 February 2016, a representative replied:
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