shellfish warning

[tonyt]

My brother-in-law has the shellfish allergy. He drinks my wine to no ill effect but I still worry. He once ordered a chicken fried steakthat apparently had been fried in oil that had been used for shrimp. He god extremely sick. Cross comtamination in restaurants is a huge issue for folks with allergies and most restaurants are keenly aware to avoid cross contamination. Unfortunately accidents happen.

 

[Car-Boy]

If Chitosan is not on the ttb approved list, what is, and what is the best to use?

 

[grapeman]

Unless you are a licensed winery, it does not matter what is on the list!

 

[Dean]

Chitosan contains absolutely no trace of shellfish proteins, which is the allergen. People with shellfish allergies canliterallydrink the stuff if they wanted to with no effect other than gagging on the thickness of it.

 

[BigMac]

Just saw this post and thought I would add my comment.
I have regularly used chitosin.
I gave a bottle of wine to a co-worker.
The next day he asked me what I put in the wine.
He told me he got a very slight reaction as if he was eating shell fish.
I was straight up with him and told him about the chitosin.
That was a couple of years ago, I haven't used it since.

Mac

 

[BotanyPhD]

I wonder why no one has produced this from inactive fungi since chitin is in the cell walls? Deacetylation of chitin makes chitosin. I know people are allergic to fungi as well but it would at least give you an option. (waiting for someone to save tonail clippings and try it.. big tow vineyards?)

 

[Wiccan_Lager]

I checked this out and according to webMD, allergy to shellfish is found in the protien (meat) of the shellfish and not the outer shell. There is no evidence, at least medically, that chitosan can induce a reaction.

I only looked because my supplier recommended it to me and I was concerned with the same thing. The last thing I need is the situation where some one dies because my wine killed them. Totally ruins the party.

 

[Midwest Vintner]

I checked this out and according to webMD, allergy to shellfish is found in the protien (meat) of the shellfish and not the outer shell. There is no evidence, at least medically, that chitosan can induce a reaction.

Yes, but it seems many are unfamiliar with factory or production work. The meat might be pulled, but it will still be present. Not in large quantities, but some are hyper allergic. In ANY production setup, it is common that things cross contaminate. Riches findings at the restaurant are NOT uncommon. Cutting boards get reused, dishes are washed in the same water (even if it looks clean), etc. The same goes for any kind of production facility. Another example, I work for a machine shop at night. We recycle all the chips, but there are many types of materials. Even though we use different, new barrels to collect the oddball metals, the machines themselves are never fully clean and we use the same bricketor (sp?) to compact all materials. This is why the every metal we buy, actually is a blend (even if it says xxxx) that has margins for other varies metals in an ISO standard.

Food and wine are the same way. I wanted to produce a PBJ wine, but the peanuts are just too much of a hassle and I'd have to literally buy a whole set of equipment just to make it.

We use bentonite on a rare occasion. We are learning to use filters in the right combo's to get the wine clear, but not rob flavor. Time is the best option, as others have posted.