Nut Free Snack Option

I came across these while shopping at Whole Foods, and thought I would pass the information along to families looking for a "safe" snack. They were located in the chip aisle.

If you try them, give us a review please.

-Katy

Are Kennel Crates Abusive

I was recently alerted to this controversy so wanted to provide a link to start forming your own opinions with.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/canine-corner/201203/the-politics-pet-dogs-and-kennel-crates

We all know how confusing and frustrating reading labels can be. This link was sent to me and hopefully it will help you in your allergen search.

http://snacksafely.com/2011/09/5-things-you-should-know-about-food-labels/

5 Things You Should Know About Food Labels

by Dave Posted on 2011/09/26

Do you have food allergies or are you responsible for someone who does? You may think you’re a pro at reading food labels, but here are five things you should know about US food labeling requirements:

1. Current labeling requirements regarding food allergies are dictated by an act of Congress known as FALCPA which became effective January 1, 2006.
2. FALCPA mandates that manufacturers highlight the presence of eight major food allergens as ingredients in their products:
   • Milk
   • Eggs
   • Fish (e.g., bass, flounder, cod)
   • Crustacean Shellfish (e.g., crab, lobster, shrimp)
   • Tree Nuts (e.g., almonds, walnuts, pecans)
   • Peanuts
   • Wheat
   • Soybeans
3. Other than these major allergens, manufacturers have no responsibility to highlight the presence of other potential allergens. If you are concerned about allergies to other food items (e.g. sesame seeds or strawberries) you must scrutinize the individual ingredients on the label.
4. The presence of a major food allergen as an ingredient must be disclosed in one of two ways:
   1. The name of the food source of a major food allergen must appear in parentheses following the name of the ingredient.
      Examples: “lecithin (soy),” “flour (wheat),” and “whey (milk)”
   2. Immediately after or next to the list of ingredients in a “contains” statement.
      Example: “Contains Wheat, Milk, and Soy.“
5. Contrary to popular belief, manufacturers are not required to disclose potential allergens that may be introduced as part of the manufacturing process. All disclosures such as “Made in a factory that also processes peanuts” are entirely voluntary. There are no standards for the wording of these disclosures or guidelines for when they should be used, so consider them with caution.

Here are the 3 replies to this article incase the link doesn't work for some reason.

1) Last week, I read a frozen yogurt label at Publix. Included with the ingredients list was “peanut oil”, yet “peanuts” was NOT listed with the other allergens of wheat, milk, and soy. I brought this to the attention of the store manager. He was genuinely concerned, and said he would call corporate. Moral of the story…don’t just rely on the allergens list. Be sure to read the ingredients, too!

2)Lisa, peanut oil and other oils derived from nuts are considered “highly refined oils” which are exempt from FALCPA disclosure requirements because they have minimal protein content and are considered safe to consume by those with food allergies. As a personal choice, we avoid foods containing peanut oil for our daughter just in case there is a problem with the manufacturing process and proteins make their way into the oil.

3)Also, companies are not responsible for listing 3rd party vendor ingredients. Anything like “spices” is anyone’s guess? Also even though a company has a peanut-free facility, their 3rd party vendor ingredients and equipment may be contaminated.

ALSO, places like Teavana Teas who deal mostly in bulk, operate under individual state health department jurisdiction and are not required to label for cross-contamination, processed on, may contain, etc… even though every one of their teas are processed with peanuts and treenuts–made on the same equipment and scooped with shared scoops. You will not find one warning on any box, bag, wall, window, etc… Thanks to the fda. They said places such as Teavana operate as a franchise–like Wendy’s or McDonald’s and they do not have to label their products. INSANE and UNACCEPTABLE.

Thank you Dave, for providing this information to the masses.

-Katy

Potential Cure for Peanut Allergies

This is an old video but still interesting and hopefully the testing will show it is affective longterm in humans.
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1346715380001/potential-cure-for-peanut-allergies


-Katy

A link to Max Rosland's mother's story... and more!

Hi all!

I want to share this story with you.  I had read on some news sites about a little boy named Max who had a "delayed reaction" after having consumed a peanut, to which he is allergic.  Although the reports I read gave some of the basic information, nothing really reported the gut-wrenching experience and the heartbreak with the detail, the emotion, the play by play that Max's mom has done:  http://www.protectallergickids.org/Max-s-Story.html  Please take the time to read this - and then post it to your Facebook page, pass it through email, etc.    As people get upset about the elimination of snacks within the classrooms, perhaps the mental image of this little boy on life support will cause people to pause and think...  We can party - PAR-TEEEE! - without food! 

Oh the stories I could tell about my 13 weeks of parenthood. We are excited that our little guy is sleeping for 7 hours at night, and supporting his head on his own. My husband and I now play rock, paper, scissors to see who has to change the dirty diapers (which I still haven’t won), and we love to show off that he babbles incoherently and smiles. Funny how small things can be so big when talking about infants.

One big worry I have is if he will have food allergies or not. The information I’ve read has been a bit vague and contradictory; eat all foods, stay away from the common allergy foods, if you suspect an allergy, contact your pediatrician. So I asked some friends to share their experiences from when they first learned their child has food allergies.

Ours was by complete surprise. Ana was 19 months old and I was getting a late night snack of a pb&j sandwich which I craved and ate daily while pregnant with her. She took one small bite for the first time and had a anaphylactic reaction within 5 seconds. Really scary. After that we had her tested for the rest.

Well we have 2 one was the egg allergy which he has now outgrown that was hives and breathing trouble from a finger lick of icing when he was 8 months old.
The nut was complete shock. He had fallen at the park and I took him to my mom’s to check him because she was a nurse she gave him a macadamia nut cookie to quiet him down. He instantly started throwing up, mom said to take him to dr because he had a concussion. The dr was less than 5 minutes from her house and by time we got there he was unconscious with whelps head to toe and barely breathing. I will never forget pulling his limp body out of his car seat and running into the office.

When Cooper was 10 months old, we gave him his first scrambled egg. He immediately broke out into hives so we suspected food allergies may be an issue. The pediatrician advised us to not give him any peanuts until he was 3 years old. Unfortunately, we didn’t know much about cross contamination at that time and reading labels was much harder than it is now. When Cooper was 2 1/2 yrs old, we were at a party where they were "crunching round PB&J sandwiches" for the kids. We asked for just jelly for him and it never occurred to me that the cutter was contaminated until he took 1 bite and broke out into hives immediately all over his body. He then started to say "I can't get the jelly off my tongue" and I knew something bad was happening. I called the pediatrician to let them know I was on my way because I didn’t think an ambulance would get to us in time. The poor baby vomited the whole way there and by the time we got to the doctor’s office he was in full blown anaphylactic shock. Thankfully, the doctor and nurses were waiting in the parking lot with an Epi-Pen and got to him in time. That is the last time he went anywhere without his epi-pens and now thanks to the addition of a detection dog to our family we hope to never use one again.

Scary to read and think about possibly going through, but at least they give other new parents some real life examples should something like this ever happen to their child.  

-Katy

Epi-Pens are Headed to Schools in Chicago

The Chicago public school system is forming a plan to stock schools with Epi-Pens and allow students to carry their own. For more details, click the link below.

http://m.nbcchicago.com/nbcchicago/db_/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=FmY6XhJc&full=true#display


-Katy