My son has severe nut allergy and I wondered if this was fairly common in canada too and wondered what the food labelling is like. Labelling laws changed in UK around Nov 2005 and that made life much easier for us, it meant all nut ingredients had to be labelled as such and so we didn't have to worry about hidden nut ingredients (eg veg oil that may be peanut oil etc). Obviously we still have to deal with ridiculous risk averse warnings (eg apple in sainsburies for tasting saying 'not suitable for nut allergy sufferes etc)

Also - I wondered if it is a nightmare eating out with it or fine?
We take a managed risk approach eg he doesn't eat anything with nut ingredients but he does eat some foods which have been made in factories that also make nut products but not if they are made on same line as tree nut products.

Gryphea

There is nothing new about nut allergies in Canada. Food labeling here is not great in many respects, but its not bad in that one.

The only food item they seem to be marketing as guaranteed peanut-free is Mars Bars. The commercials promote this fact on a regular basis.

gryphea - sorted then - a Mars Bar diet - fantastic !

sorry - but explain the Sainsburys apples again ?!

(not being flippant about the allergy, by the way)

Thats because schools are really on top of this and kids have to (at least at out school) take only peanut free snacks. Which sucks if the only thing your kid will eat with any consistency is peanut butter & jelly sandwiches

We have had "no name" fruit bars sent home unopened because they were not specifically labeled as peanut free. You have to buy the name brand ones to get that. When you start to look closely there is more labeled stuff than just mars bars.

I have had a severe allergy to Brazil nuts since I was about 3 years old.... I grew up in Ontario.

When buying food items from a grocery store, I find the labeling rather good.... the problem comes when buying cakes or cookies from small independent bakeries... then the labeling (if there even is any) is suspect and I simply avoid buying such products. As far as "eating out" (I assume you mean going to a restaurant) it would depend on exactly what nut he is allergic to.... Brazil nut is used so infrequently in Canada that I'm not too worried... but a peanut allergy would be another matter.... so eating out could be a real problem..... and just asking a waiter/waitress doesn't cut it with me because I wouldn't trust that they know what they are talking about.

So what nut is he allergic too? How old is he?

Sainsburies have a ridiculous not very helpful totally risk averse policy- this means that apples being tasted in store have nut allergy warnings because they have been cut with a knife in store and in store they also sell nuts. This kind of approach is not very helpful- after all then nutrition and malnourishment then becomes a much greater risk than his allergy!. Tesco have a brilliant really detailed labelling apporach on all own brand foods and waitrose is pretty good. M and S also have some good ranges!

Gryphea

Comforting to hear schools are on top of it. BUT in UK the anaphalaxis society don't recommend bans - they recommend managment procedures and a policy of not sharing food and educating all the kids. Ie early placement of responsibility on child. I think it is a better apporach than banning but banning is easier. the danger of banning is that inevitably some gets through and its better to have procedures in place to cope with that

I was wondering about the peanut butter/jelly thing though!

Gryphea

Thanks for this- he is 4. His worst allergy is brazil!!!! he is also severely allergic to cashews and he carries an epipen for these two allergies. He is also allergic to peanut, all other nuts except hazlenut and sesame. He also has a mild egg allergy. Like you his severest allergies are to the more expensive hence less common kind and I am not worried about his future as when he hits the danger time (17-25) there will be treatments (fab new vaccines currently on trial in US).

It sounds like the labelling situation is fairly much the same as UK- and again its bakery type products that re trickiest here. Basically we just know our labels and brands and actually then it hardly affects us at all. He is very aware of it too and would ask anyone offering food if it had eggs or nuts in.

Gryphea

Our elementry school offers peanut butter sandwiches if you forget your lunch so it must be patchy on rules. I have a milk allergy and carry an epipen myself and I am just getting used to the brands again. Many state if it's trace nuts or ingredient nuts.

I would suspect he will outgrow the egg allergy... I was mildly allergic (delayed allergy) to wheat when I was young, and I outgrew that.... but never lost the severe allergy to Brazil nuts.... I would hate to have more than just one nut allergy (I can eat all other nuts).... train him not to eat anything others hand him.

By the time I was 17, it wasn't much of a problem anymore because I was so careful.... it's until he gets to that age that you have the biggest problem IMO.

Hi Gryphea
I recently worked with a girl who had an allergy to all nuts - peanuts and tree nuts - she carried an epipen(?) with her all the time....this led me to do research on her behalf as she wasn't on the internet at home. I came across this link link which may be useful to you

http://www.sickkids.on.ca/specialtyfoodshop/

I believe that at one time a "Food Finder Wheel" was available from their website, but I found this info in a two-year old magazine, so it may now be out of date. If you click on the Shop On-line button, there's a section on food allergies. Might be worth looking at - there seems to be loads of information.....

WE have been told that he may well outgrow egg (50% chance). 17-25 is just the risk age in Uk based on the fact schools deal with it quite well and at 17 they go out and get drunk with mates and then have curries etc when not fully in control! Considering he's 4 he is prety well trained.......

Really useful link- thanks

PB & J sarnies have been around for a long time; even before allergies were invented. About ten years ago I asked a Canadian mom what they were all about. Essentially, they became a school-lunch staple because the stuff in them isn't going to go bad in a few hours.

I've been trying to introduce the concept of PB & M sarnies for some time but have met with little success.