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Food Allergy Horrors at Halloween
When you have a child suffering from a food allergy, Halloween celebrations are sure to make you break out into a cold sweat. Here are some tips to enjoy the party in total safety.
Trick-or-treating
- Don’t let your child go all alone from house to house in the neighbourhood
- Remind him/her that he/she can only eat the candy after you have examined it
- Carry his epinephrine auto-injector with you (in case he’s not so … “obedient”)
Sorting out the treats
- After returning home, carefully check the collected treats.
- Get rid of homemade items and those whose packaging contains no list of ingredients.
- Carefully read the labels of each of the treats that contain it. The list of ingredients of a known product may be altered at any time and the composition of the same product may vary according to size.
- Beware of cross-contamination. A handful of peanuts in your child’s pumpkin could contaminate the entire contents, if he is allergic to this food.
- When in doubt, don’t take any risks: Contact the manufacturer… or throw it out!
A special thanks to Nina Cuneo for this pumpkin picture.
Author
Cinzia Cuneo, founder of SOSCuisine.com, never wanted to neglect the quality of her food. She shares her special expertise to make good food quickly and without complications!
Having a life long anaphylaxis to peanuts ( I’m 61) I have grown up being hyper vigilant about Halloween candy. Those were the days when people would toss a handful f peanuts in a trick or treat bag! One thing we were absolutely not to eat were M& M’s as another peanut allergic relative had a bad reaction after eating the regular kind. Apparently the chocolate poured over the peanuts is recycled and used to make the plain. No home made or unmarked foods allowed. Certain brands of chocolate have initiated reactions for me ie Hershey but they have never said the product is nut free so I don’t eat it….and wouldn’t you know it, neither one of my kids has any food allergy at all!
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