Teach Your Kids About Their Food Allergies

Filed Under Food Allergy | Leave a Comment

It may be quite difficult for kids with food allergies to cope. They may feel dismayed when they are not able to eat what all their friends are eating. Imagine if they have a milk allergy and have to give up all the sweets and chocolates. They start to feel left out and may even get angry at you, the parent, for not allowing them to. They may feel tempted to take just one bite but with certain food allergies, even one bite can prove to be fatal.

You will need to be patient in getting your kids to understand more about their food allergies. Explain to them about the types of reactions that they are possibly going to get. Let them know the risk that they put themselves into, even with just a bite of the food that they are not supposed to be eating.

Educating the kids to be independent is also important. You cannot always be around with them all the time. Hence, teach them how to read food labels. Also let them what to do if they should suspect that they are having an allergic reaction. You need to let them know what are the allergic reactions to look out for eg. a tightness in the throat, swelling throat or tongue, a hoarse sounding voice, feeling faint, breathing difficulty, wheezing, coughing, nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, diarrhea, indigestion, and also bluish skin around the lips or nails.

Jul

15

6 Ways to Dealing with Cross Contamination of Food Allergens

Filed Under Food Allergy | Leave a Comment

While you may have tried your best to be diligent in avoiding foods that cause allergic reactions, you may still get encounter cases of cross contamination. This usually happens during the food preparation process. Your food comes into contact with an allergen during the serving, cooking, or the baking process. Cross contamination is a common occurence in restaurants and manufacturing plants and even at home, regardless of how much care you put in.

Even the slightest cross contamination can affect some people with serious food allergies. For instance, those suffering from peanut allergies can developm symptoms just with the smell of peanut butter even without touching or tasting it.

While it may be difficult to, here are some tips on what can be done to prevent cross contamination:

1. Learn to read food labels. If you have food allergies, then this is a basic skill that you must acquire. Some ingredients have multiple names. You would need to know what they are commonly labelled as in food packagings.

2. When in doubt, always check with the manufacturer. To be absolutely sure, call the 800 customer service number. My guess is that you will be able to find assistance as manufacturers would not want to be sued over any possible health hazards as a result of consuming their products.

3. Keep your kitchen free of any food allergens. In this manner, you prevent cross contamination from happening at home.

4. You can also designate certain areas of the kitchen for special types of food preparation. Also make one cutting board for one specific food item. Insist on hand-washing after touching food.

Do not use wood cutting boards as they are porous and can harbor the remaining essence of offending food items even after cleaning it. Use glass or plastic boards that are less likely to harbor germs of food particles.

5. You also need to let others know abour your food allergies. You do not want to develop symptoms, spread through a hug, handshake or kiss. You may not believe this but there have been news reports of people going into anaphylactic shock after a simple kiss from a friend who ate shrimp or even peanut butter crackers.

6. You need to exercise extreme care when going to restaurants for meals. Many places are accomodating. But you will need to let them know about your special needs in food preparation and serving.

Subscribe in a reader