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In Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), Gromit gave this cheese box to Wallace to cover his private part before Her Ladyship.

enter image description here

But this Cheese Box is labelled "May Contain Nuts"

Why would a Cheese Box be labelled as "May Contain Nuts"?

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2 Answers 2

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It's a joke (for the most part)

Firstly, the "May Contain" is a common warning in many countries by manufacturers to indicate that not only might the product actually contain allergen items but also that the allergen may have entered the product accidentally ... usually as it was manufactured in the same plant where the allergen was being used.

Manufacturers often use phrases such as 'may contain' to show that there could be small amounts of an allergen for example milk, egg, nuts etc. in a food product because it has entered the product accidentally during the production process.

It's not a legal requirement to say on the label that a food might accidentally contain small amounts of an allergen, but many manufacturers label their products in this way to warn their customers of this risk.

Food.gov.uk


But secondly, and perhaps more importantly, nuts is used as a double entendre to imply testicles since Wallace is naked in the box....or perhaps that Wallace is just a little crazy (nuts).

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    Technically, he's "naked in the box" the same way I'm "naked underneath my clothes."
    – fluffy
    Mar 5, 2017 at 16:25
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    @fluffy I disagree. "Naked" is usually taken to mean "not wearing any clothes", and a box doesn't usually count as clothing. Mar 5, 2017 at 18:32
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    @fluffy Everyone's naked underneath. Mar 5, 2017 at 18:49
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    @randal'thor Not sure I want to open a youtube link with that description...
    – Kevin
    Mar 6, 2017 at 7:14
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    Not that it really matters when it's a joke, but as well as the "processed in the same plant as nuts, may contain traces", some cheeses do actually have nuts in, e.g. walnuts in thecheeseandwineshop.co.uk/products/… thecheeseandwineshop.co.uk/products/…
    – armb
    Mar 6, 2017 at 15:42
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If the law requires potential allergens to be declared, then listing as many possible allergens as they can on each product covers them -- they won't be sued if one piece of nut ends up in the box and someone chokes on it.

This, of course, defeats the purpose of the law -- by "crying wolf", no one knows anymore which products contain what allergens. I believe these laws will be strengthened in the future; after people get used to the current system.

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    I don't want to be rude, but this completely misses the point of the label in this movie.
    – iandotkelly
    Mar 6, 2017 at 3:17
  • Hmmm -- I took the question literally. I saw the movie still, but thought that was a just side comment.
    – born2code
    Mar 6, 2017 at 4:06

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