Last November I told you about an Allergy Task Force that was put together with researchers around the globe including the widely renowned Stephen Taylor from the University of Nebraska’s Food Allergy Research and Resource Program (FARRP). The task force announced this November, after a meeting in Nice, that they would have information about the threshold amounts for peanut, milk and egg by the end of 2012.

To put it into perspective, we already have a threshold for gluten which is 20 ppm (parts per million). Anything under 20 ppm is considered safe by the leading scientists in gluten research, even when taking into account eating many products under 20 ppm during the day – the cumulative effect. Following this accepted level, the government can then create labeling laws that specify the threshold and food producers follow this in the labeling/marketing of their own products. While not yet law in the US, the guideline for producers is that less than 20 ppm of gluten (wheat, barley and rye) may be labeled as “gluten free”.

So what does that mean for food allergens? The task force has already been reviewing and conducting scientific research to determine at what level food allergens must be present to create an allergic reaction. If, say, it is determined that the threshold for peanut is 10 ppm, only food products less than 10 ppm could be labeled as peanut free.

It could also help determine the “may contain” statements. Perhaps on occasion, a product tests at over 10 ppm. A food manufacturer could then put a “may contain peanut” on the label. If a product consistently tested above 10 ppm, the “may contain” may no longer be appropriate because peanut is consistently in the product so it must be labeled “contains peanut” or peanut must be placed on the ingredient list. Levels could also be used to determine what “traces” are vs containing peanut or it may be determined that labeling for “traces” is no longer appropriate and a product either contains or may contain an allergen.

Another consideration is that with advances in scientific testing, we can now test down to parts per billion of peanut protein.  But if a product tests at 1 part per billion, it may be well below a threshold but cannot be labeled peanut free.  This is sometimes why your favorite product that was safe at the grocery store last week now has a may contain label on it and you no longer trust as safe for your family.  Just because we can test for something, doesn’t mean that it is useful. 

Australians are going through this problem right now because their gluten free labeling law is not at 20 ppm but rather at the lowest level currently scientifically testable.  So products testing at 3 ppm for gluten can no longer have gluten free labeling and Celiacs are losing their ability to know what is actually safe under 20 ppm vs not allowed to be labelled.  Their Celiac Association has called for a change to the law because this has become a serious issue for their members and their quality of life.

Altogether, I feel that thresholds are a good thing. For the consumer, they won’t have to guess anymore as to what labeling means nor should they have to phone producers to double check a confusing label.  It may also mean that we have fewer consumers playing “Russian Roulette” with their food because they guess that a food manufacturer puts on a “may contain” only to cover themselves legally, when, in fact, the food may very well contain that protein.

For governments, they then have a definitive threshold that can be placed into labeling laws and therefore have the authority to recall products that are unsafe and/or conduct legal investigations and actions for producers disregarding the law.

For food producers, it means that they can also stop guessing and create specific sanitation and testing protocols for their products and food production lines.  They can also label very specifically and if indeed they are putting blanket “may contains” on all of their products, they can stop doing that and allow more of their products to become available to allergic consumers.

If you’d like to know more details about the International Task Force, who’s on it and what they are trying to achieve, you can check out this page: http://www.ilsi.org/europe/pages/tf_foodallergy.aspx

How many times have you been traveling and either had safe bread products with you or found some safe bread products but you were afraid to put your safe product into the toaster? I’ve certainly been in that situation with my family and so I found a great little product that helps keep the toaster cross contamination out while allowing us to eat safely: Toast-It! Bags.

Originally created for containing grilled cheese sandwiches in a toaster, they are now well used and loved by many with special diets who want to use a toaster while visiting family or a breakfast buffet with their own safe bread product. You simply slip your own bread (or thinly sliced bagel, muffin, etc.), into the Toast-It! Bag and then pop it into the toaster. Gluten free breads may need a second run through but then you can just slide out your item and enjoy.

The website says that they also work in toaster ovens and on grills like the George Foreman Grill. I do know of someone who tried it successfully in a toaster oven but I’m not sure if that was on the toast or bake setting. I’m also not sure if they might work for something like a small individual pizza but it’s certainly worth a try.

If you’re traveling for the holidays or travel a lot for work and need to take your own food with you like we do, this handy little product could be a life saver (literally) and you no longer have to take your toaster with you. They can even be washed at home, dried and reused several times. Take a look on their website at: http://www.toastitbags.com/

This Nonuttin’ chocolate sale won’t be found anywhere but on Nonuttin’ social media: our enewsletter, our blog and our Facebook page. And it’s only on until December 15 at 9 pm PST.

For every 3 pouches of our 70% Dark Chocolate Chunks OR every 3 pouches of our Semi-Sweet Mini Chocolate Chips you’ll get 1 FREE.

Put in 4 of one product to the cart and 1 will automatically be updated to a free item. Put in 8; get 2 free, and so on. Products are not mix and match for the free item (i.e 2 pouches of chunks, 1 pouch of chips).

There is NO limit on how many free pouches you can get so now is the time to stock up for your baking. Our chocolate freezes beautifully in its sealed pouch too and can be frozen for up to 2 years (even though we bet you won’t be able to keep your hands off for that long).

Go Shopping Now: www.nonuttin.com/shop or www.nonuttin.ca

2 other products that we have chosen to discontinue are the diced dried apples and the cherry fruit snacks in pouches.
While these will still both be ingredients in other products, you will no longer be able to buy them separately. As we make room for 5 new products coming in the new year, we needed to remove the products from our inventory that are selling the least.

No date has been set for exactly when these products will be gone as we are simply allowing our current packaging to run out and not purchasing any more. So be sure to buy what you want now because once the packaging is gone, so are these two products.

If you’ve been on the website in the last couple of days, you will see that we will be discontinuing the Vanilla Caramel Granola Clusters in the 30 gram packs in the new year.

Why are we discontinuing this item?

Before July, all granola products in both the US and Canada (bars, granola, granola clusters) had sesame warnings on them as a “may contain”. This was because while we are a sesame free facility, the crisp rice that we were using as an ingredient had sesame on the line where it is made and so cross contamination was a possibility.

In July, we changed all of our US granola bars and granola pouches and the Canadian granola pouches to a new formula with a new crisp rice that has no sesame potential cross contamination. The Canadian granola bars will be moving to that new formula at the end of January as well, meaning that all Nonuttin’ products EXCEPT for the 30 gram vanilla caramel granola clusters will be sesame free.

Rather than cause confusion as to what may have potential sesame cross contamination, we will discontinue the 30 gram vanilla caramel granola clusters, completely remove the old crisp rice from the facility and truly be able to say with certainty that every Nonuttin’ product is sesame free.

While we can appreciate that those who love the little 30 gram packs will miss them, it is a priority with us that there is no confusion as to our sesame status, especially as it is a Canadian top 10 allergen and those with sesame allergy are growing in number in both Canada and the USA.

We can pick our friends but we can’t pick our families and when you’re dealing with food allergies and intolerances over the holidays, you might just want to hang out with your friends. What is it about food allergies that can cause so many family feuds?

And why is it that all holidays between Halloween and Easter are excessively celebrated with food? From US Thanksgiving on Thursday through to Christmas especially, every get together is frought with minefields that we must safely navigate. These holidays can be the most stressful of all, especially if you gather with family who just don’t understand the severity of your needs. Is it any wonder that some of us just want to hibernate?

I’m the first to say that I’ve been really lucky in that I have great family on both sides who take our family’s food allergies very seriously when we’re visiting. Everybody always goes out of their way to make sure that the food is safe and that we have lots of choice. It’s what has allowed us to sanely navigate our way through many a pot luck family reunion. Even if extended family is not on board, we’ve always been able to enjoy ourselves with what’s available to us from our closest family, away from the main food serving area.

But I’ve heard horror stories ranging from the grandma who leaves the bowl of peanuts out on the coffee table near an allergic toddler to the sister-in-law who gets offended when you can’t eat her wheat laden house specialty. Is it worth it to even go to a family member’s house if they just don’t get it? Will they ever get it? If so, what does it take? If not, is it easier said than done to write them off?

Oh I wish that I could have a dog in my house and my kids certainly agree. I love dogs so I’ve tried, oh how I’ve tried.

I’ve had my furry “nephew” come visit more than once (Kobi, the golden retriever who also has food allergies) and we’ve taken care of friends’ dogs for weekends while they’re away. I’ve stayed at friends’ houses that have all manner of dogs including the ones that are supposed to be less allergenic (less hair, yes, less saliva, no).  I watched with interest as the Obamas picked a Portuguese water dog as their family pet to mitigate their daughter’s allergies. But, alas, my asthma and congestion kicks in every time followed by catching every communicable disease around while my immune system struggles under the load.

But for those of you who don’t have to worry about the asthmatic side of allergies like me, you now have a weapon in your arsenal if you have a family history of eczema in your house and were avoiding a dog because of it. A new study suggests that having a dog can actually reduce the incidence of eczema in children before the age of 4 who were at risk of developing eczema due to family history.

Cats were also included in the study but the news was not so positive. Check out the link at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100930093229.htm

No, Megan, we still cannot have a dog to reduce your eczema but good try.

Researchers at National Jewish Health released a study in the Journal of Pediatrics on October 29 that says that many people are mistakenly avoiding foods that they believe their children are allergic to or believe is affecting eczema in their child.

Part of the problem is the difficulty in diagnosing food allergies. It turns out that a combination of patient history (including family history and previous anaphylactic attacks), skin tests, blood immunoassays and food challenges have to be assessed before a truly definitive diagnosis of food allergy can be applied. However, in practice, patients do not always go through these as part of the diagnostic process.

Add to that the fears of the food allergic and their parents, such as my child’s strong aversion to a food challenge, and you get many people who are avoiding foods unneccessarily. Check out the link to the study to see how many study participants were able to add foods back into their diets: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101104171350.htm

I always loved the quote from allergy expert Dr. Scott Sicherer in response to whether moms eating certain foods when pregnant could increase the rate of food allergies in their children, “We’ve also seen a rise in cat allergies and, as far as I know, mothers aren’t eating more cats than they used to.”

Not only did this quote make me laugh out loud when I heard it, it made me feel a whole lot better about my role in my children’s food allergies. Not so fast, it would appear.

Now Dr. Sicherer has released preliminary food allergy data that indicates that what we eat during pregnancy may indeed have an affect on the development of food allergies in our infants. When reading the article, it was like reading 100% of my own experience including milk allergies in both my daughters and quite severe eczema in my youngest.

Read the article here: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Health/20101102/baby-peanuts-101102/

During my eldest child’s pregnancy, I ate peanut butter rarely because I found it made me nauseous. She now has no allergies. During my youngest child’s pregnancy, peanut butter was one of the few nutritious foods I could eat that didn’t make me ill and she currently has 4 food allergies and continues to have eczema. Hmm.

Dr. Sicherer does go on to say that more studies are needed to provide advice on what should be eaten during pregnancy. And obviously, for those of us who are finished our childbearing years and already have children with food allergies, the horse has escaped and there’s no closing the barn door so to speak.

Now in my forties and a little further along the food allergy path with my family, I’m not going to jump on the blame train quite as quickly as I might have in the past. Perhaps it’s also because, like any health issue, different studies often show conflicting data and so I don’t take absolutely every study as gospel truth anymore.

Besides, my husband has allergies to shellfish and I have environmental allergies, sulpha allergy, asthma and eczema, so I’m feeling we’ve got some murkiness in there. So I’m pretty content to share the blame with him, my mother’s environmental allergies, my uncle’s shrimp allergy, my grandfather’s…