The other day while discussing Liam’s food allergy and the stresses it brings, the question came up “how do people with food allergies in the States handle things?”
I can honestly say I have no idea. Krystyne and I are thankful for the labelling that exists on food items here, but we have been terrified at taking Liam out of the country because we don’t know what labelling standards exist elsewhere.
So that’s the question I’d like to pose to my readers … how do you deal with food allergies? What are the food labels like in your part of the world? How do you learn which food items are “safe” for you and your family? What support methods have you found or built to help?
Krystyne and I have both enjoyed travelling outside of Canada (and not just to Buffalo for wings), and we’d love to include our family in that experience again.
This is such a huge question. I read labels faithfully -even obsessively, I guess. Unfortunately, companies in the US are not required to list if the product is "Made in a Factory that produces Peanuts". The "May Contain Peanuts" label is recommended but not required. We had a problem recently with a cake mix that did not have peanuts listed as an ingredient ( Cake Wreck). It rocked my faith in labels. However, I cannot stop reading them diligently. Beyond that, I depend on prayer.
ReplyDeleteWe've had a few close calls with trusting labels. A similar thing happened with a cake mix we had during Christmas last year. That is a special kind of dread that chills to the bone.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that David was ok in the end, and those are huge smiles on both him and Mom at his grad!