Food Labeling - Ingredients, Facility, Country?

I was shopping at a nearby Hannaford Supermarket over the weekend and was checking out the natural/organic foods section to see if there are any new allergy friendly foods. I came across fruit snacks by Florida's Natural and the package said "This product is manufactured in a nut free facility." Those words are music to my ears. Perfect, I thought--a different fruit snack similar to what the other kids eat, made in a nut free facility. A few aisles later, I found other fruit snacks by Florida's Natural, also bearing those lovely words about nut-free facility, and then I saw it: "Made responsibly in China." Well...say what you will, I felt I had no choice but to return the fruit snack back to where I'd found it.

With all the horror stories in the news about food and children's toys and jewelry made in China, "Made responsibly in China" does not sound believable to me. Does anyone else feel similarly? I have wavering faith in U.S. food standards. I'm not about to make the jump to buying food from China for my food allergic child. I actually do consider the country where a food is manufactured when making food purchasing decisions. Up until now, the brand Florida's Natural conjured up good thoughts of a co-op of Florida citrus farmers working together. It sounded good--grass roots, straight from the farmers, not some big scary corporation. As much as I'd like to, I just don't get that same good feeling from the Florida's Natural Au'some Fruit Snacks.

It may sound politically incorrect to admit that geography is a factor in my food selection, but I suspect it is for others as well. What do you think? Does the country where a food is  manufactured influence your purchasing decisions?

Food Allergy Friendly Super Bowl Specials from A & J Bakery

Are you on A & J Bakery's e-mailing list? If you or a food allergic loved one lives in Rhode Island or Eastern Massachusetts, you really ought to sign up! For those of you further away, they ship almost everything they make, all over the globe.

I received the latest newsflash from them over the weekend and they have some yummy super bowl specials I just have to share. The Super Bowl is definitely a get-together that involves food, so why not go equipped with allergy safe goodies?

Specials for Super Bowl Weekend (February 3-5, 2011)

Buy 2 Pizza Shells and save $2.00 off

Buy 2 Bags of Biscotti and save $3.00 off

Buy a Large Football Cake and save $1.50

Buy 6 Mini Football Cakes and get 1 free
 

 

Make Your Voice Heard Re: Canadian Food Labeling Regs

I am still catching up on important food allergy emails. Below is one from the superb Canadian publication--enjoyed by members of the food allergy and celiac communities in both the U.S. and Canada--Allergic Living. Please take a moment to make your voice heard. 

"Dear Allergic Living registrant,

 

We wanted to forward this urgent communication from Anaphylaxis Canada to the food allergy and celiac communities regarding the lobbying efforts to urge the federal government to approve the proposed food labelling regulations. 

 

Anaphylaxis Canada writes:

 

As you may have seen on the weekend, several media outlets reported that the beer industry has come out in strong opposition to the proposed regulatory changes. This opposition by a powerful private interest group threatens to derail final approval of the proposed changes by the federal government. We are deeply concerned with this development and that the regulations might not be passed.   

 

As you know, community stakeholders have been waiting for 2 1/2 years for these regulations to be enacted – and this is on top of the 10-year campaign for such changes that preceded it. 

 

The public good must take precedence over powerful private interests.   

 

The only way to counter the influence of powerful business groups like the beer industry is to demonstrate the widespread public support for food labelling changes. We therefore seek your urgent assistance again.  

 

1. Please call Prime Minister Stephen Harper office at (613) 992-4211 as soon as possible.

 

2. Please join Allergic Living's write-in campaign: http://www.allergicliving.com/petitions/food-labelling/

 

3. Contact your Member of Parliament. Click here to find your local MP: http://www2.parl.gc.ca/parlinfo/compilations/houseofcommons/memberbypostalcode.aspx?menu=hoc

 

Please tell the Prime Minister and your MP that people with food allergies and those who shop for them need clearer food labeling on all food packages and beverage labels. 

 

It's a matter of life and death. And public safety is more important than private interests. 

 

Further to this point, the Canadian Celiac Association writes today: 

 

What will it take to make our government and Ottawa lobbyists understand that Canadians have a right to know if their food and drinks are safe? How many visits to the ER, how many work days lost, how many deaths will it take?

 

More: http://www.prweb.com/releases/Celiac-Disease-Allergens/Food-Beverage-Labelling/prweb4999184.htm

 

Thank you in advance Allergic Living registrants for your support.

 

Allergic Living magazine"

By the way, if you don't subscribe to Allergic Living, you should! Subscription information may be found here. 

Valentine Food Allergy Twitter Party

It has been a looong time since I hosted a food allergy Twitter party. Food allergy friends keep asking where I've disappeared to over the last while. Life has gotten so much busier here. I am dying to tell you what I have been up to, but that's a story for another day!

I'm thinking it's time for a food allergy Twitter party. Why not a pre-Valentine's Day party to share all your food allergy friendly Valentine's Day finds and compare notes on how your food allergic kids' school is celebrating (or not!)?

I want to give some of those wonderful food allergy businesses a chance to toot their horns with enough time for you to place an order and receive goodies before V-Day, if you wish. Valentine's Day is fast approaching, so set your calendar for Friday, February 4, 8 to 9 pm eastern time. Remember the hashtag will be #foodallergy, as usual!

It's possible there may be some giveaways too, so stay tuned for more details. If you have any questions, feel free to drop me a line--jenniferATfoodallergybuzz.com.

Gotta Love Food Allergy Friendly Valentine's Goodies

There are so many more food allergy friendly companies than there were several years ago when I first learned about my son's allergies. I just received news of some nice Valentine's specials from two lovely food allergy friendly businesses: Allergy Apparel and A & J Bakery. 

A & J has a number of amazing specials that range in price from $6.95 to $38.95. Take a look at their website to read the descriptions and view photos. My boys and I are big fans of A & J.

Allergy Apparel offers eye-catching allergy shirts and other handy allergy items such as medical jewelry, epipen carriers and even Lucy's Cookies.

Swing on by their websites and take a gander at their offerings!

An Exercise in Baguette Baking

My 7 year old has been asking to try the French bread he sees at the supermarket for at least a year now. Try to find a baguette without the "made in a facility...with peanuts and tree nuts" warning--it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack. 

I finally decided it was time to try my hand at baking a baguette. A friend of mine gave me a recipe. I bought the bread flour, the yeast and corn meal and set aside today to undertake this baking experiment. It took much longer than I really expected--in total, it took about seven hours, on and off. I succeeded in producing 3 nut-free, peanut-free baguettes in my nut-free, peanut-free kitchen in my nut-free peanut-free house. 

I need to learn a few things about slapping and rolling bread dough, because two of the baguettes started to unroll themselves while baking! The third, however, looked close to the way I think baguettes look. The taste was not bad. I have to be honest, I have tasted better baguettes. Still, I was proud of my efforts. I am convinced I can learn to produce any food my son wants to eat, safely. It just might take a few tries!

What did my seven-year old think? Well, I guess I did something right. He happily ate almost an entire baguette by himself. 

Gee, I hope I haven't set a precedent....!

Please Fix Your Bookmarks!

Lise's fabulous French language food allergy blog, les allergies alimentaires, has a new url. Please make note of the change in your bookmarks. The new url is: www.lesallergiesalimentaires.com. Now's the perfect time to check it out!