I’m sure you’ve heard it before. If you haven’t, let me be the first to tell you, “Always read and re-read ALL food labels.” You’re probably saying, “Of course I know that, I’m a food allergy mom.” But do you ALWAYS read the labels of the food that you buy week in and week out? I try to, but if I’m totally honest, a few boxes of honey graham sticks have probably gone from the shelf, to the cart, to the pantry without anyone even glancing at the ingredient list. {insert loud, audible gasp} I know, I know! It hasn’t happened often and I can assure you that I finally have a system down where it may never happen again, but we all get into our routines and begin to feel safe. Maybe too safe.
The more time that goes by without a reaction {more than just some hives}, the more comfortable I begin to feel. I’ve even found myself thinking, “Have we outgrown our allergies? We must have since we’ve been reaction-free for so long. Maybe I should give him a tiny piece of cheese and see what happens.” Then all of a sudden I find myself screaming at myself, “ARE YOU CRAZY?!?!?!?” Of course, I’m not going to give him some cheese! My point is that we all get comfortable, but we must stay vigilant at doing the daily things that keep our kids with food allergies safe and at our house it begins with label reading. We’ve been fortunate that we’ve never had a reaction from a food that snuck past my eyes, but I’d be lying if I told you that I’d never seen a company change the ingredients in a product that for months had been “safe.”
A few months ago, the chicken nuggets {Yummy 100% Natural Dino Nuggets} that my little men had been eating reaction-free suddenly caused my youngest to get bright red cheeks and have loose stools {his typical reaction to soy}. Soy is the one allergen that hasn’t caused an anaphylactic reaction for him. At first we weren’t sure what was going on so it took us a few days to rotate through all of the foods that he’d had for dinner to figure out which food was causing the reaction. At first I was fearful that he’d developed a new allergy. But when we finally got back around to trying the nuggets for a second time it was only a matter of minutes before his cheeks were bright red again, followed by loose stools. So we obviously stopped eating those nuggets. I immediately went back to the food label, nothing had changed. So I assumed that there must have been cross contamination somewhere along the line. My oldest loves these nuggets. He actually prefers them over all other nuggets that he’s tried so we continue to purchase them for him. Just the other day, I purchased a new box of these nuggets after not being able to find them for a few days and do you know what?!?!?!? The label had changed. Now it contains “isolated soy protein.” Aaack!! I don’t know if they changed the ingredients but continued to package them in the same boxes before having the boxes reprinted or what, but the reaction never lies!! I don’t mean to scare you. Most of the time the labeling can be trusted. But please, please always read the labels even on the products that you purchase on a regular basis.
On another note, if you can eat wheat, soy & gluten and you are looking for a tasty, “safe” chicken nugget then I highly recommend Yummy brand of nuggets. Here is their allergen statement from their website. But as always, do your own investigation into the food that you give your food allergic child as everyone’s allergies and sensitivities are different.
We do not use milk, eggs, peanuts, nuts, tree nuts, fish or seafood based ingredients in our formulations, nor do we store any of these in our plant facility.
My Label Reading System
So, I’m a bit of a type A, organization freak. I generally have a system and a place for everything. {Isn’t that right, honey?} I don’t know if you have a label reading system, but let me share with you what I do. Perhaps it will help. I generally read everything at the grocery store but I have a new rule that it can’t go into the pantry until it’s been read and slapped with a “safe” or “not safe” sticker. This makes it easy for the my little men, the babysitter, the grandparents, or anyone else in our home to identify what my little men can have (or not!). Plus, it prevents me from obsessively, compulsively reading the food labels each and every time I pull out the food because I can’t seem to remember whether or not I read it. If you like my system, you can order custom food allergy alert “safe” and “not safe” stickers from our Etsy store. I will customize them to your child and his/her allergies and send you the proof. Then you can purchase the blank sticker sheets and print them from your computer. Or if you don’t need custom stickers then check out Paper & Pigtails fabulous FREE printable for food allergy families. The download features “safe,” “not safe” stickers and allergy alert cards. Don’t want to print them at home? Check out Mabel’s Labels line of Allergy Alert Stickers!