With an eye on the food allergy community as a unique group of consumers since 2008, we're on a quest to find and share ways to continue enjoying the good things in life.


16 March 2009

Fruit Is a Safe Food for Allergies--Or Is It?

Some individuals are allergic to fruit and in those cases, it's obvious fruit would not be a "safe" food to offer, but what about those with milk, dairy, peanut or nut allergies? No problem, right? Think again! FAB reader Katie sent the above photo from an Edible Arrangements gift. The gift is a fruit bouquet or basket artfully arranged with wonderful fruit but it comes with the warning shown in the photo. Why? Because some fruit is dipped in chocolate and may have traces of peanuts, nuts, or milk. Good eye, Katie! Thanks to Katie for this reminder not to assume food is safe for your food allergies and to always read those labels.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks Jennifer for posting about this. I have moms at school that say all the time "well instead of home made cupcakes I'll just bring in cut up fruit".

While some food allergic parents might be okay with this. I don't feel comfortable with the mom not realizing and using the same knife to cut up the fruit as she did to spread the pnut butter on her child's sandwich that morning.

It just shows how many things we need to think about to keep our children safe.

Unknown said...

You're right, Ruth, we have to be ever vigilant! Katie did a great job spotting this; it's so helpful to have an example like this to remind all of us not to get too comfortable.