Food Allergy Buzz

Nut Allergies Don't Slow Him Down

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer B) — Sun, 27 May 2012 13:29:00 +0000

I just spotted this interesting article about racecar driver Alex Tagliani and thought I'd share it with you. Tagliani has life threatening allergies to peanuts and nuts. He was in yesterday's Indianapolis 500 and has partnered up with Le Petite Bretonne to produce peanut-free cookies, called Tag on the Go, in a peanut-free, nut-free facility. The first flavors being produced are chocolate chip and oatmeal, and oatmeal. The cookies currently are sold in Canada--where Tagliani hails from--but will soon be sold in the U.S. Can't wait!! Thanks Alex!

Living with Food Allergies Blog Carnival: May 2012 Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer B) — Fri, 25 May 2012 02:04:00 +0000

Welcome to the May 2012 Edition of the Living with Food Allergies Blog Carnival. We have some really interesting posts to share with you during this Allergy Awareness Month!

Elyse of Following Him shares Happy Being Me. I really admire her perspective and positive attitude and think you will too!

Jenny of The Nut-Free Mom offers an excellent and very well-written analogy on food allergy parenting in Thought for Mother's Day: Food Allergy Parenting is Like "Finding Nemo".

She also shares the new Nut-Free Mom Cake Photo Gallery--a must see!--and the first installment of a new regular feature on her blog!

Joanne of Food Allergy Assistant provides a super round-up of food allergy cooking and baking resources in Best Food Resource Books for Cooking and Baking.

Another good piece of advice offered by Food Allergy Assistant is to make sure you are getting news of food recalls. Take a look at Food Allergy Recalls; Food Allergy Assistant lists several sites where you can sign up for recall alerts.

"What CAN you eat?" is a question many folks with multiple food allergies are used to hearing. Gluten Free Froggie in the Kitchen (don't you LOVE the name of her blog?!) cheerfully shares her experience.

Karen of Avoiding Milk Blog and Chemurgy and Allergens Blog is an amazing font of knowledge! Check out Sunscreen and Tanning Products that Contain Nuts. She talks about "spray tans containing walnut shells, sunscreens that contain various nut oils, all dangers for those with nut allergies."

Finally, I thought I'd share a post entitled Food Allergies at the Movie Theater. We don't buy any food at the concession stand. Do you?

Thanks to the bloggers for their great posts! If you missed this month, you can always submit a post next month. Join our Living with Food Allergies Blog Carnival Facebook Page to keep up with our calendar or to find out more about the Blog Carnival. Just send me an email, jennifer{at}foodallergybuzz{dot}com to participate, host, or for more info. Thanks in advance to www.stacymolter.com for being our host next month!

Food Allergy Awareness Week Twitter Party 2012: Prize Winners Announcement

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer B) — Tue, 22 May 2012 20:00:00 +0000

Food Allergy Awareness Week 2012 Twitter Party

Thanks to our Sponsors for Contributing the Following Prizes!

The following winners need to email their mailing addresses to me (jenniferATfoodallergybuzzDOTcom) as soon as possible. If you have been awarded a prize which you do not wish to accept (for whatever reason), please let me know. I will use random.org to award the prize to another party attendee. Congratulations winners!

The Girl Who Cannot Eat Peanut Butter by Sharon Chisvin (2 copies!)
http://www.allergypicturebook.com/
winner: Debbie, @DebbieMonroe3 (#15)
winner: Sarah, @mamasarahjane (#62)

Learning to Bake Allergen-Free by Colette Martin (1 copy!)
http://www.learningtoeatallergyfree.com/
winner: Sarah, @SarahN388 (#63)

The BugyBops: Friends for All Time by Amy Recob (1 copy!)
http://thebugabees.blogspot.com/
winner: pending verification
 
Allergy Apparel http://www.allergyapparel.com/
ID bracelet ($12 value) winner: Louise, @AnAppleADayRD (#49)
ID bracelet ($12 value) winner: Lama, @Tasterie (#43, )
Epi Pouch ($16 value) winner: pending verification

A & J Bakery http://www.aandjbakery.net/
1 bag of biscotti, 1 pkg of A&J’s allergen friendly granola free of the top 8 allergens
and a banana loaf and A & J’s new Congo bar. Contains soy lecithin
winner: @geekdad248 (#2)

AllerMates http://www.allermates.com/
wristbands
winner: Elyse, @eah1234 (#19)

The Eczema Company http://www.eczemacompany.com/
$25 store credit
winner: Jenny, @xfoodallrgyhelp (#77)

Mad Alex Products http://www.madalexproducts.com/
$20 store gift certificate code
winner: Nicole, @AllergicChild (#57)

Onespot Allergy http://www.onespotallergy.com/
Best EpiPen Belt from http://t.co/hXLpaTX.
The Belt holds up to 4 EpiPens, Benadryl, an inhaler etc, since it's stretchy and you can add optional extra pockets.
winner: Vivian, @VivianZoe (#73)

Sweet Alexis http://www.sweetalexis.com/
30 pack of Chocolate Chip Cookies - perfect for end of school year parties!!!
winner: Jane Anne, @gravityofmotion (#28)

Winner selection process: The guest list was alphabetized by Punchbowl. I numbered the guests starting with the beginning of the alphabet and then used random.org to select winners. I then cross-checked RSVP's, tweets, facebook, and follows. The numbers you see after each winner's Twitter handle are the winning numbers generated by random.org. A few winners are still pending verification.

Food Allergy Blog Carnival Posts Due Wednesday, May 23

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer B) — Mon, 21 May 2012 22:33:00 +0000

Now that Food Allergy Awareness Week 2012 is over, it's almost time for the May edition of the Living with Food Allergies Blog Carnival! Submit your food allergy-related blog post for the blog carnival by 11 PM Eastern time this Wednesday, May 23, 2012. I'll be hosting the carnival here on Food Allergy Buzz on Thursday, May 24, and next month's edition will be hosted by Stacy over at www.stacymolter.com (@stacymolter on Twitter). If you are interested in hosting a future edition, send an email to me at jenniferATfoodallergybuzzDOTcom. All food allergy friends with blogs are welcome!

Food Allergy Awareness Week Party - Thank you

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer B) — Wed, 16 May 2012 09:59:00 +0000

Thanks to all who joined in last night's twitter party!!! It was fantastic! We had people from at least 3 different countries and so many different food allergies. I think some great connections and new food allergy friends were made. I've archived more than 1000 tweets!

I'll be announcing the prize winners in the next few days here on Food Allergy Buzz. I'll let you know on Facebook and Twitter when the post is live. Winners will be randomly selected from partygoers who RSVP'd, and then I just have to verify the person follows @FoodAllergyBuzz and shared party info on Facebook or Twitter. Believe it or not, the last #foodallergy twitter party had some party crashers with no connection to food allergies but still wanted the lovely food allergy prizes! Hence, the verification this time and delayed announcement of prize winners.

I think last night's party may have been the biggest #foodallergy Twitter party yet! The food allergy community rocks!!

Food Allergy Awareness Week 2012 - Twitter Party

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer B) — Tue, 15 May 2012 02:20:00 +0000

Every year, when Food Allergy Awareness Week (FAAW) comes along, the question everyone asks is: What are you doing to honor Food Allergy Awareness Week? For many of us, I think, every week is Food Allergy Awareness Week. We work with our children's schools, with our own schools, with our employers, local businesses, support groups, you name it!, trying to make our world a little more food allergy friendly and safer.

I like to take a moment during FAAW to get together with as many food allergy friends online as possible. The internet has brought so many of us together, enabling us to learn from each other, exchange handy tips, and educate ourselves and others about food allergies. Over the years, I've made so many new friends and acquaintances all over the world because of food allergies. FAAW gives us a great opportunity to take a break in our busy schedules and come together about the thing that unites us--food allergies!

I see a lot of old and new food allergy friends have RSVP'd already! If you haven't, here is a link to this year's invitation. If you've joined in past #foodallergy twitter parties, you know there are always prizes. Remember, if you want to enter the drawings for prizes, you must RSVP, follow @FoodAllergyBuzz and share news about the party on Facebook or Twitter. This time, I am trying something new. I'd really like to get a "head-count" as much as that's possible on Twitter, so I am checking RSVP's, tweets and follows before announcing prize winners. That means prize winners won't be announced during the party; they'll be announced a few days later. I promise I'll cross-check as quick as I can!

A big thank you goes to this year's sponsors. Please take a moment to check out their sites and their contributions to the food allergy community!

Sharon Chisvin (Author of The Girl Who Cannot Eat Peanut Butter), @Schisvin

Colette Martin (Author of Learning to Bake Allergen-Free), @ColettefMartin

A&J Bakery, Facebook page

Amy Recob (Author of the The BugyBops: Friends for All Time and The Bugabees), @AmyRecob

Allergy Apparel, @AllergyApparel

AllerMates, @Allermates

Mad Alex Products, @MadAlexProducts

The Eczema Company, @EczemaCompany

Onespot Allergy, @Onespot_Allergy

Sweet Alexis, @swtalexisbakery

The FAAW Twitter Party is all about promoting food allergy awareness! Let's try to make #foodallergy a trending topic on Twitter on May 15, especially between 8 and 9 pm Eastern time. Tweet ya later!

Food Allergy Awareness Week Twitter Party Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer B) — Wed, 09 May 2012 10:28:00 +0000

An old post with some helpful tips about Twitter Parties...

If you're new to Twitter, attending a Twitter Party can seem pretty complicated and even a bit daunting. Fear not! A couple of easy steps, and you'll be ready to watch the Tweets fly, and maybe...before the hour's up, you might even decide to Tweet too!

Basic Twitter Tips

If you think you might want to Tweet during the party--and I hope you do, so we can make #foodallergy trend!--you will need to get a Twitter account. It's free and easy to do. They don't require much personal info at all to open an account. Just visit www.twitter.com and click on the Sign Up button on the right. You will be asked to provide your full name, a user name, a password and your email address. Having a Twitter account means you can Tweet a message to everyone and anyone on Twitter, provided you keep it to 140 characters or less in length. You can follow other people on Twitter who you think have interesting things to say and likewise, people can follow you! If someone unseemly follows you, you can always block them.

When you rest your cursor on a tweet on your screen, you'll see you have the option to reply or retweet. If you read a tweet that you think is worth repeating to your followers, you can retweet. You'll see the tweet with a RT in front, ready to send. Hitting reply automatically puts the screenname of the Twitter user you are replying to at the beginning of your Tweet. For example, if you reply to a Tweet from me, your reply would begin "@FoodAllergyBuzz".

Attending a Twitter Party

So, you've signed up for Twitter. You get how to reply, retweet and tweet. How do you participate in the Twitter Party? A few important things will make it easy for you.

Hashtags

First, you need to know what the hashtag is. For the Holidays with Food Allergies Party and all our Food Allergy Twitter Parties, we use #foodallergy. That means all tweets intended for the Food Allergy Twitter Party must include "#foodallergy" in that 140 character tweet or the people at the party won't see it! Using the hashtag enables everyone there to filter out tweets unrelated to the party. The tweets tend to come fast and furious during Twitter parties. It can be difficult to keep up. The last thing you need is unrelated Tweets interspersed with Twitter Party Tweets. That'll just confuse you and make your eyes go buggy!

Twitter Search

If you want to keep it simple, use Twitter Search. You can just type #foodallergy into the search box on the right side of your twitter page about a third of the way down. That brings you "real time" search results for tweets with #foodallergy. Sometimes it does not refresh as fast as you'd like, and you'll find it's difficult to keep up because while you're waiting for your search results to refresh, people are still tweeting away. It keeps things simple and uncluttered, though, and you can keep your Twitter page open in a separate window in case you wish to Tweet, Retweet, or Reply.

Twitter Dashboards

If you are comfortable with a very minimal amount of learning an application/tool, try a Twitter Dashboard, such as Tweetdeck or Tweetgrid. There are many. I find using a Twitter dashboard makes it easier to keep track of replies, direct messages, and #foodallergy tweets simultaneously. I recommend Tweetdeck--it's free and simple to use. You need to download it, but it is well worth the memory space if you plan to use Twitter on a regular basis. For the party itself, I recommend using 4 columns: Mentions, Direct Messages, a column for #foodallergy search results, and a column for your tweets. That way, you can see all of the relevant info simultaneously.

What If You Just Want to Observe & Not Use Twitter?

I am so glad that Robyn of Peanut Allergy Kid inquired about whether there was a way to make it easy for non-Twitter users to read the tweets during and after the party. Thanks to Robyn's suggestion, the party may be a bit more accessible to more members of the online food allergy community.

That's my quick and dirty lesson on how to attend a Twitter Party. I am sure I am leaving out quite a bit, but hopefully this is enough to get you started! Please also take a look at a related post about Twitter Parties. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me jenniferATfoodallergybuzz.com--I'll reply as quick as I can. Hope to see you at the party!

Nut-Free Cookies? Better Read That Label Again

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer B) — Fri, 04 May 2012 00:56:00 +0000

A reader recently notified me of a new nut-free bakery in nearby Rhode Island. I was so excited! I thought, this is great, more options! It just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it? Or so I thought. Here is what the website states:

"No nuts are present in our AIB-Certified facility, so our baked goods never come into contact with nuts of any kind. Our nut-free facility means that people with nut allergies can rest assured when enjoying our delicious baked goods."

That sounds good, right? It states that, however, right below their list of cookie flavors and the cookie flavors were concerning--they use M&M's. That's right, this "nut-free" bakery apparently uses plain M&M's. It's actually the first cookie flavor they have listed. One of the photos on their website looks like a brownie topped with M&M's.

"may contains" = risk of cross contamination

As most peanut and nut-allergic individuals know, plain M&M's packages bear "may contain peanuts" statements. That means there could be trace amounts of peanuts in the plain M&M's. In fact, recently there was a news story about a mother accused of murdering her peanut allergic child with plain M&M's.

The bakery's website further states "We make natural baked goods in a nut-free facility for restaurants, cafeterias, and other foodservice outlets." Yipes. Does this mean that restaurants and other businesses are then serving/selling what they believe to be nut-free baked goods?

Yesterday, I sent an email to the bakery--Cross Country Cookie--to inquire about their use of M&M's as a "nut-free" bakery but have not heard back from them yet. I can't help but wonder, if they use M&M's, what kind of chocolate are they using? Their use of M&M's raises all sorts of questions about the nut-free nature of their baked goods or lack thereof. I suggested some alternative sources of chocolate and candy to them, with the hope that they will switch to nut-safe and peanut-safe ingredients. If they are going to use ingredients which bear "may contains" warnings, they should change the wording on their website and other materials, and not refer to their food as nut-free, or include the "may contains" warning on their own labels. I hope to hear back from them soon. I must note, the bakery is not new. According to their website, they've been in business for 25 years.

I write this post to remind readers that the terms nut-free and peanut-free mean different things to different companies and different people. Until the FDA defines what peanut-free and nut-free should mean on food labels, manufacturers will continue to use these terms (and terms like dairy-free, soy-free, etc.) how they wish. It's potentially dangerous but that's the reality. It's so easy to imagine how things could go very wrong when a bakery says it is nut-free but uses ingredients that contain traces of peanuts and/or nuts. Some nut allergic and peanut allergic individuals react to trace amounts. We know this. Some of us have experienced this ourselves, or witnessed it, or read newspaper articles about horrific reactions to trace amounts. You see where I'm going with this. I don't think I need to spell it out more.

This problem is not limited to peanut and nut allergies; it's across the board, for all food allergies. A free-from food labeled as such, should actually be free of that ingredient. This is why I believe the FDA should set official definitions and thresholds for free-from food labels, but that's a story for another day.

Food Allergies at the Movie Theater

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer B) — Tue, 01 May 2012 10:54:00 +0000

Several months ago, I noticed how many visitors to Food Allergy Buzz arrive here as a result of a Google search for information about "food allergies and movie theater", especially "dairy allergy". I wrote to more than 10 cinema/movie theater chains to inquire about the popcorn sold at the concession stands a few months ago. Guess how many replies I received? None!

So, I can only conclude dairy allergic moviegoers are on their own when it comes to figuring out just what is on that popcorn. I'm not sure how helpful the teenagers behind the concession stand at our local theater could be in this regard. As you know, we have peanut and nut allergies in our house, but not dairy. So I put the question out to you, Food Allergy Buzz readers: what's the story with movie theater popcorn "butter"? Are certain chains "known" to have "safe" popcorn? Do you have to just check theater by theater? I think your answers could help a great many people!

Food Allergy Buzz's Food Allergy Awareness Week Twitter Party

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer B) — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 19:46:00 +0000

In honor of Food Allergy Awareness Week 2012, Food Allergy Buzz is planning a Food Allergy Awareness Week Twitter Party. It's a chance for members of the online food allergy community to have a virtual get-together and talk food allergies. The ultimate goal of the Food Allergy Awareness Week Twitter Party is to try to get the hashtag #foodallergy to "trend". In Twitter-speak, that means get a heck of a lot of tweets to use the hashtag #foodallergy!

This year's Food Allergy Twitter Party will take place on Tuesday, May 15, at 8:00 PM Eastern time. The hashtag, as always, is #foodallergy.

If you are a food allergy blogger, advocate, business, or author, and want to know how you can get involved or contribute to the twitter party (and I don't mean cash!), email jennifer[AT]foodallergybuzz[dot]com asap. Food Allergy Buzz--@FoodAllergyBuzz on Twitter--has a great number of food allergy followers on Twitter, so this is a fabulous food allergy community networking opportunity.

More details to come, so stay tuned!

Living with Food Allergies Blog Carnival: April 26, 2012 Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer B) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 10:15:00 +0000

Welcome to the April 26, 2012 edition of Living with Food Allergies carnival and thank you to everyone who sent blog posts for this edition. Anyone with a food allergy related post is welcome to submit a post for our carnival, and any food allergy awareness advocate with a blog is welcome to host. Please send me an email--jennifer[at]foodallergybuzz[dot]com if you are interested in either opportunity! Now, without further adieu, our featured posts:

Commentary and Advice

Brian Schardt presents Going Gluten-Free at Work | East Bay Celiac posted at East Bay Celiac.

ERiC AiXeLsyD presents Dey Mylan’s irrisponsibile TV ad and it’s possible consiquences… posted at World (and Lunar) Domination, saying, "More TV insanity?"

Gina Mennett Lee presents Walking the fine line when advocating for your child: Top 10 Tips for Surviving a 504 Meeting posted at Food Allergy Education Network.

Sara Dawkins presents 8 Ways to Tell Your Child May Have Serious Allergies posted at NannyPro.com, saying, "Do you ever wonder how you can tell the difference between if your child is just dealing with a cold or if they’re suffering from allergies? If you do suspect that your child has allergies, then how do you determine if they are mild or serious?"

Stacy Molter presents Traveling and Dining with Food Allergies: Legoland California posted at Stacy Molter, saying, "Thank you!"

Food Allergy Friendly Eats

Food Allergy Assistant presents Allergy Free Eggs posted at Food Allergy Assistant, saying, "As we chatted about this on my FB page, we wondered if allergen-free eggs could be dyed beautiful colors like Easter eggs!"

Gael Tannenbaum presents Dairy Free Chocolate Ice Cream – Round 2 posted at Mad Alex's Test Kitchen Blog, saying, "This is just one in a series of allergy-friendly ice cream posts on our new blog. I think the allergy-free community will enjoy our new blog!"

Suzie Banks presents Dairy Free Milks posted at Aesthetics & Gastronomy.

The Food Allergy Mom presents Make Your Own Allergy-Friendly Version Of Your Favorite Recipes posted at The Food Allergy Mom.

Personal Food Allergy Stories

Jennifer presents Full Disclosure posted at dairyfreediner, saying, "This blog post is about my struggles with when to disclosure my families health concerns including a potentially life-threatening food allergy, how much information to share when I do and the varied reactions to my different approaches."

Jennifer Mulchandani presents Peanut explosion disrupts reaction-free week on vacation posted at Snowflakes In January.

Jessica Martin presents Egg-cellent news posted at Food Allergy Sleuth, saying, "I'm a fairly new blogger. Hope this is helpful for any other allergy parents out there!"

Lisa Rutter presents Stephanie & Aeverie posted at No Nuts Moms Group - Blog.

Please submit your blog article to the next edition of living with food allergies carnivalusing our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Food Allergy Blog Carnival: Blog Posts due April 25

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer B) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 10:32:00 +0000

Hey there, my food allergy friends! The next Living with Food Allergies Blog Carnival is coming up soon. I almost forgot about it myself, things have been so busy here! So, if you have a food allergy blog post that you especially enjoy and would like to share, or you're looking to connect with other food allergy blogger folks, please submit your post before 11 PM Eastern on Wednesday, April 25.

Also, we are always looking for hosts for the carnival. The only qualification is that you have a blog and are a food allergy awareness advocate (according to you!). Please email me for more info: jennifer[AT]foodallergybuzz.com. Thank you to the Food Allergy Assistant for hosting last month!

On a completely unrelated note, I have a morning greeting song (for 2nd graders) to share which is stuck in my head. I am hoping if I share it with you, it will not be stuck in my head anymore! I found a video of kids singing the Cool Cat Chugga Chugga song and the lyrics too. I gotta say it's annoying to have it stuck in your head, but the children at school LOVE doing this song. There! Annoying song be gone! :)

COOL CAT

Hey there _______
You’re a real cool cat
You’ve got a lot of this
And a lot of that
We all think that your real neat
So move on out to the chugga chugga beat
Hands up chugga chugga a-chugga chugga
Hands down chugga chugga a-chugga chugga
To the front to the back to the side by side
To the front to the back to the side by side

Allergy Studies at Children's Hospital Boston

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer B) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Below is an email notice I received from the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America's New England Chapter about some exciting studies which will be taking place at Children's Hospital Boston. (I have directly copied and pasted from AAFA's email. The words below are not mine!)

Research Study of Parent and Child Perspectives on Food Labeling
Children’s Hospital Boston is conducting a study using focus groups, to learn more about the ways that children with food allergy and their parents use and understand food labels.
We are currently looking for children ages 9 to 13 years to participate in focus groups. If your child participates in the study, we will ask him or her to be part of a discussion with other children his/her age with food allergies. The discussion will focus on how children cope with and manage their allergies, and how children understand and use food labels.
Participation involves one visit to Children’s Hospital, which will last about 2 hours.
If you are interested in participating in this research study, or would like more information about the study, please contact Dr. Jennifer LeBovidge, the Principal Investigator of the study, atjennifer.lebovidge@childrens.harvard.edu or 617-355-8557.

Registry for the
Atopic Dermatitis Research Network
We are looking for:
• Males and females between 3 and 80 years of age who have Atopic Dermatitis
• Males and females between 8 months to 80 years or age who have a history of, or an active case of eczema herpeticum (wide-spread herpes skin infection along with AD)
Study Involves:
• One, possibly two visits to the clinic
• Skin swabs and small volume blood draw
If you decide to take part you will receive:
• Study related medical evaluation, including physical exam and test results
• Education and information about AD
• Financial compensation for qualified participants
For further information, contact the Children’s Hospital Boston clinical coordinators by phone or email:
(617) 355-4344, ADRNStudy@childrens.harvard.edu
Principal Investigator:
Lynda Schneider, MD – Children’s Hospital Boston, Boston, Massachusetts

The National Institutes of Health, Division of Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation is sponsoring this clinical study at the following sites: Denver, Colorado; Portland, Oregon; Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois; and Rochester, New York.

This project has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health and Human Services, under contract HHSN272201000020C

Peanut Allergy Friendly Baseball 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer B) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 00:07:00 +0000

First, thank you to all the food allergy support groups, individuals, and major and minor leagues baseball teams that have made peanut allergy friendly seating available this season!

It has been quite a season for peanut allergy friendly baseball already! I've heard from major and minor league teams, U.S. and Canadian newspapers, food allergy support groups, and lots of fans. This marks my fourth season tracking peanut allergy friendly baseball, and it is getting more attention than ever! There are peanut-free games, peanut-free zones, peanut-controlled seating areas, peanut-safe zones, peanut allergy suites...all sorts of arrangements and names for the generous accommodations made by baseball teams this year. If you support any sort of peanut allergy accommodation at baseball games, please show your support by "LIKE-ing" the Free to Enjoy Baseball (peanutfreebaseball.com) Facebook page. It's the one place fans and supporters of peanut allergy friendly baseball games for all the minor and major league teams can meet and exchange info.

We are still awaiting info regarding peanut allergy accommodations for the Red Sox (my home team!) as well as a few other teams--fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies, LA Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels, and the Toronto Blue Jays have all been in touch. I'm hoping our support will yield a peanut allergy friendly announcement from those teams and others. Fans of both the San Francisco Giants and the Toronto Blue Jays have established Facebook pages to help show their numbers--please consider "LIKE-ing" those pages to show your support.

If you attend a peanut allergy friendly game, please be sure to share a photo of your day or night at the game on the peanutfreebaseball.com Facebook page. Play ball!

Food Allergy Friendly Summer Camp

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer B) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:01:00 +0000

Facebook is abuzz with word that early registration is now underway for Camp TAG. According to FAAN's website, "It provides a safe place for children with food allergies and their siblings to have fun with no worries about having an allergic reaction, as well as give them an opportunity to meet other children who share the same conditions and know they are not alone!"

It is a full day camp running July 9 to July 13, 2012. The camp will take place at Tall Pines Day Camp in Williamstown, NJ.

To register, click here.

Allergy and Asthma Foundation of America New England Chapter's Breath of Spring

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer B) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 00:21:00 +0000

In a matter of days, the New England Chapter of the Allergy and Asthma Foundation of America will be holding its fundraising event in Wellesley, MA. Breath of Spring 2012, on April 20, will be a fun-filled casino night at the Elm Bank Reservation.

Please visit the following two links for additional information on how you can participate and support AAFA (NE).

Salute Your School Nurse
Attend Breath of Spring

Allergy Friendly Manufacturer Merges

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer B) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 11:04:00 +0000

I have been wondering for some time what was going on over at Ian's Natural Foods. We see fewer and fewer of their products in the freezer at the grocery store. Their breadcrumbs seemed to no longer be available. Now, I know. They're merging with another company, Blue Horizon Wild. I am looking forward to seeing what products will be available.

Have a look at this news article from the Worcester Business Journal: Merger Expands Manufacturing at Framingham Firm.

2012 Mississauga Epipen/AAIA Take Action Against Reactions 5k Walk

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer B) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 01:39:00 +0000

I came across an interesting notice on Facebook about the 2012 Mississauga Epipen/AAIA Take Action Against Reactions 5k Walk and thought I should share it with Food Allergy Buzz readers. It is scheduled to take place on May 27 in Erindale Park in Mississauga, Ontario. Last year they raised $13,500 and this year, they're aiming to outdo that! For those of you in the vicinity, please mark your calendars and check out the event page on Facebook.

Thank you to Debbie Bruce for this info!

Does heat kill food allergens?

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer B) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 10:15:00 +0000

Every day people Google some variation of the question “does heat kill major food allergens?” Germs and bacteria are different than allergens, and many can be killed by cooking food at a proper temperature--that prevents food poisoning. But, food allergens are not germs or bacteria. They cannot be killed.

The FDA provides the following definition for major food allergen:

"Under FALCPA, a "major food allergen" is an ingredient that is one of the following five foods or from one of the following three food groups or is an ingredient that contains protein derived from one of the following:

milk
egg
fish
Crustacean shellfish
tree nuts
wheat
peanuts
soybeans"

Among other food allergens not included in that list are foods such as strawberries, kiwi, corn, sesame seeds, mustard, etc. None of these food allergens can be killed. They cannot be killed with heat, or cold, or any other method.

Some food proteins--the operative word being some--however, are heat-labile while others are heat resistant. What this means is that some proteins change when heated--causing fewer allergic reactions--while others stay the same despite heating. Dr. Leo explains this in the House Call column in the December/January 2012 issue of Living Without magazine:

"The best example of a heat-labile protein is an egg. When a raw egg is heated and becomes hard boiled, the process can’t be reversed due to changes in the chemical structure of the egg proteins. The immune system that recognizes and reacts to egg protein may not recognize it after it’s cooked inside a cake because heat changes the protein structure. This is why some egg-allergic people can tolerate highly baked items like muffins but have difficulty with lower baked products like brownies."

Please visit the above Living Without link to read the entire answer from Dr. Leo. I must note that he cautions "Testing proteins on food-allergic individuals should never occur outside a closely supervised medical setting." Please do consult with your physician and don't experiment on your own!

In other words, you can't clean peanut or nuts or other food allergens off of a pan by heating the pan. No matter how hot that pan gets, the peanut or nut or other food allergen proteins aren't going anywhere and will not transform to a harmless, non-allergenic form. They're just as dangerous heated or unheated. The only way to get allergens off of a surface is to use soap and hot water. Kids With Food Allergies' 8 Tips for Avoiding Cross-Contamination states:

"Wash Dishes Thoroughly

Mixing bowls, pots, pans, utensils, and so forth that have been used in the preparation of allergenic foods must be thoroughly washed in hot, sudsy water prior to being used to prepare food for your allergic child. In addition, to avoid having stray bits of dried allergenic food stick to your "clean" dishes, it is best to rinse off dirty dishes and utensils that are "contaminated" with allergenic foods prior to loading them into your dishwasher."

What about cleaning food allergens off furniture? Well...we'll have to save that for a discussion on another day! In the meantime, feel free to share your opinion, your tips and your advice about removing food allergen residue/protein/traces in a comment below. Thanks!

Allergy-free eggs?

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer B) — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 10:53:00 +0000

Remember the news stories about research on generically modified peanuts and hypoallergenic peanuts? These links will refresh your memory: USDA Developing Low-Allergy Natural Peanut and North Carolina Agricultural and Tech reports progress on hypo-allergenic peanuts.

Now enter...(drum roll please!!) the allergy-free egg. That's right, researchers in Australia are hard at work on creating eggs that are "allergy-free" to eat and for use in vaccines. Please see this article for a little more info: Researches work to develop allergy-free eggs.

What do you think? Good idea? Would you eat them?

Anaphylaxis Study in Australia

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer B) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 11:05:00 +0000

Below is a link to an interesting article about a study currently taking place in Australia. The UWA-WAIMR-Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) collaboration "aims to find what gene pathways are activated in the early stages of a reaction and find what triggers a whole body reaction over a localised one." Did you hear about this? The research is funded by the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN)--it is just one of the great things going on at FAAN.(Click here to read FAAN's press release of 02/15/2012 about this research.)

Mid-anaphylactic mapping of gene expression seeks reaction pathways

Food Allergy Leaders: Press Release from FAAN

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer B) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 11:03:00 +0000

Please see the below press release from FAAN yesterday. Congratulations to all the award winners!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Winners of the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network’s Annual Awards
Are Making a Difference in the Food Allergy Community

Recipients Raise Awareness, Advocate for Others

Fairfax, VA – The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN^™) is pleased to announce the winners of the 16^thAnnual Mariel C. Furlong Awards for Making a Difference as well as the Grandparent Awards and Youth Special Achievement Awards.

Each recipient of FAAN’s annual awards is being recognized for their tireless efforts on behalf of the food allergy community in the areas of awareness, education, and advocacy.

“We’re so grateful for these incredibly dedicated support group leaders, educators, grandparents, healthcare professionals, and companies who have truly demonstrated their commitment to improving the lives of individuals with food allergies in many ways,” said Eleanor Garrow, FAAN’s Vice President of Education and Outreach. “I’m also happy to honor some very special youths who are taking the initiative to make an impact at such a young age.”

This year’s winners and categories:

Community Service - Support Group

Thanita Glancey – Ashburn, Va.
Sherée Godwin – Madison, Wis.
Wendy Wessel – Brooklyn Park, Minn.

Community Service – Other

Denise Mitchell –Lincoln, Neb.
Michael and Janet Schwartz – Massapequa, NY

Food Industry

Red Robin – Rockaway, NJ
Via 45 – Red Bank, NJ

School Principal

Cheryl Damato –Morgan Hill, Calif.

School Nurse

Rita Molloy –Medford, NY.

School (Other)

Brenda White – Milwaukee, Wis.
Inly School – Scituate, Mass.

Grandparent Awards

Jeanne Feldman –Pittsford, NY
Brenda Statzer –Martinsville, Ind.
Rita Wilson – Clearwater, Fla.

Youth Special Achievement Awards

Jennifer and Rachel Braun – Napersville, Ill.
Lauren Maunus – Palm City, Fla..
Brett Nasuti – Upton, Mass.
Corey Shive – Lansdale, Pa.

The annual Mariel C. Furlong Awards for Making a Difference were created in 1996 to honor individuals and corporations who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to make a difference in the lives of individuals with food allergies. The awards are named after Mariel Christine Furlong, daughter of Anne Muñoz-Furlong, the founder of FAAN. Please refer to addendum for information on why these outstanding individuals were nominated.

The awards will be presented at FAAN’s 19th Annual Food Allergy Conferences in Oak Brook, IL on March 31, Tarrytown, NY on April 28, and Anaheim, CA on June 9. For more information on food allergies, please visit www.foodallergy.org.

Food Allergy News: Over the counter Epipens?

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer B) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 10:15:00 +0000

Did you hear about this? According to a March 9 article entitled FDA considers putting more drugs over the counter in The Boston Globe, the FDA is contemplating some new initiatives, including possibly making Epipens available over the counter. On the one hand, that sounds good--epipens would be more easily available, I think. On the other hand, our health insurance covers the epipens now. How much will the OTC epipens cost? I'm not really sure if it is a good or bad thing to have epipens available OTC. What do you think?

UPDATE: Thanks to the wonder of Twitter, just heard from @AllergicGirl that @WayneShreffler tweeted about this very topic a couple of days ago. He provided a link to a page regarding the upcoming hearing on this topic. The government is soliciting comments, so there is your chance to give your two cents! Here is the link! Thanks to @AllergicGirl and @WayneShreffler for the tip!

Just Ask for a Clean Scoop

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer B) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 10:38:00 +0000

When my son was first diagnosed, another mom advised me to just ask for a clean scoop when I go to the local ice cream shop. I never did because we never went back to the local ice cream shop or any other ice cream shop. The big food allergy reaction took place at an ice cream shop and ever since then, I have made ice cream with this nifty Cuisinart ice cream maker my sister gave me. Watching your child rapidly become covered with hives, throat closing up, vomiting, the panic in his eyes...it's something you don't want to repeat.

I still hear moms saying "just ask them to use a clean scoop", and if that works for you, that's awesome! Maybe trace amounts are not something that affect you or your loved one, and if that's the case, that is very fortunate indeed! Different people do have different levels of sensitivity to allergens. For many, however, trace amounts are an issue. The clean scoop routine only works if the ice cream shop opens up a new tub of ice cream, sherbet, frozen yogurt, gelato, etc. for you. If it's not a new tub, there is no way to be certain that an earlier scoop that touched another flavor containing your allergen-to-worry-about didn't then scoop from the tub your scoop will come from.

We've all been to a busy ice cream shop before--speed is an important factor for those working there! The people working behind the ice cream counter scoop those scoops, sundaes and cones as fast as they can. After all, frozen treats melt pretty quickly outside the freezer, even in cooler weather. A scoop of maple walnut or moose tracks ice cream could very easily be plopped on top of a cone, followed by a scoop of the vanilla you also want, all with the same scoop! Even if a walnut or almond or peanut butter doesn't actually make it into the vanilla, there will be trace amounts. The damage is done; the flavor you want is contaminated.

One of the top results I obtained in a cursory Google search for " clean scoop ice cream peanut allergy" was Google Books for Dr. Robert Wood's "Food Allergies for Dummies". If you are new to food allergies and wondering what to do about frozen treats, as spring inches closer, take a peek at Dr. Wood's book as you do your research to make your frozen treat decision. Dr. Woods gives some very common sense precautions, which you can view online in Google Books. He suggests to:

"Stick with ice cream from major manufacturers and carefully read the labels."
"Make your own ice cream."
"Avoid scooped ice cream from parlors."
"Avoid the soft serve parlor, too."
"Skip the toppings."

If you've got a routine that works for you, please tell us about it! What has worked and not worked for you? Are you a fan of the clean scoop? Have you come up with another way?

Allergy & Free From Show 2012 in the UK

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer B) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 11:02:00 +0000

In May, The Allergy & Free From Show 2012 will be taking place in London, and a few

months later in the fall in Liverpool. Too bad it's not happening in Boston; I'd be there in a heartbeat!

The press release has some interesting stats on allergies in the UK and good info about the show, so I am copying and pasting most of it below for you to read. Tickets are FREE for Food Allergy Buzz readers; just click here for tickets! With a gallon of milk costing over $4 these days and a loaf of bread about $4 too, I get super excited by discounts and freebies!!! WOO-HOO!!! FREE TIX!

Ahem. From the press release:

The UK has one of the highest Allergy rates in the world, with...

30 Million people estimated to have food intolerance’s...this is almost HALF our population
18 million people will develop an allergy at some point in their lives
9 million people have hayfever
6 million people have eczema
5 million people have asthma
40% of school children have at least one allergic condition

What can you expect from AFF 2012...

Try & Buy - shopping for new and innovative products
Free-to-attend seminars
Consultant Allergists, Dermatologists, Dieticians & Respiratory Specialists
Sainsbury's Cooking Zone – inspirational free-from cooking classes
Demo Zone – interactive live demonstrations of the latest products, therapies and medical advice
Parent workshops
Health professional masterclasses

Seriously, this is a really exciting event! It is Europe's largest "public exhibition dedicated to those living with allergies, intolerances and autoimmune diseases (like coeliac disease)." I hope Food Allergy Buzz readers in and near the UK who attend the Show will write us after the event and tell us how it is! (You know, London sure sounds like a great place for a visit in May, don't ya think? Can we work something in? A sorta vacation/food allergy education trip? That would work for me!)