Your thoughts on 'May Contain'?

[Likeaninjanow]

I'm just back from DS2s appointment at the paediatric allergy consultant. He advised that we should not give DS2 anything that says 'may contain traces of XXXX (whichever allergy)'. What are your thoughts on this?

Currently we allow him to eat anything which states it may contain traces of his allergens. He's not had a reaction to these foodstuffs to date. To be honest, it would be a nightmare to limit him even further, as he's allergic to so many different things.

I think the decision should also be based on how badly your DC react too. Obviously I'd be more worried about avoiding may contain products if DS had an anaphylactic reaction.

agree clariec76, but this practice does mean that someone could bite in to a may contain chocolate and get a lump of peanut in their mouth.

so we have to be very careful when it comes to chocolate.

oh, and we avoid those sweets dispensed in large plastic bottles that you pay 20 p or so for, which twist a handful in to your hand, as they dont wash the containers at each fill up time, and may fill up one with a nutty chocolate then replace when empty with some sweets. so is a cross contaimination issue.

trixymalixy , many people think like this , but how can you judge how badly yr child will react? if your child has been prescribed an epi pen, they are considered at risk of anaphylaxis if they eat the allergen.

as each reaction is different in severity , depending on other factors, such as current health, asthma control and amount ingested, you cant judge each may contain as always being safe every time.

by the very fact that 'may contain' is there it means it might or might not each time. if you had 10 mar bars in front of you, would you be able to pick the one that is nut free?

without extra knowledge no one can pick the safest one. may contain is the bane of the allergic, but also a potential life saver.

Unfortunately there isn't really any extra knowledge you can have when it comes to allergens.

No one ever knows when they could have an allergic reaction or to what food. The nature of developing allergies is such that, you have to have come into contact with said allergens at some point in order for your body to have decided it didn't like it and take time to develop antibodies against it. So often it is the second (or 3rd/4th/100th...!) time you come into contact with something that you have a reaction, be it dog/nuts/kiwifruit/bee sting, because you now have antibodies to this particular thing.

Your immune system is like an army and is the bodies defence system to anything 'foreign' or potentially dangerous. An allergic response is like a huge over-reaction but in a defensive way. Your antibodies think they're being protective.

Often people may not react at all the first time they get stung by a wasp, and then the next time react hugely, whether it's anaphylactic or just an angry itchy red bump.

So basically I'm saying, as with most things concerning our kids, it's down to the parents decision, and you're either the kind of parent who worries about every little maybe or a more relaxed one. But only you know your child and how they've reacted in the past and how to handle it....and none of us can predict whether or not they will react the first time they try something new...even when they're adults. As allergies can develop at any age...out of the blue.

My point Eragon, was that you'd be nuts to give your kids may contain products knowing that they have already had an anyphlactic reaction. Anything else is down to the parents decision.

Trixymalixy

The opposite seems to have happened to DS 15. He outgrew peanuts and now seems to have a problem with chickpears

Oh Bruffin, that must be pretty disappointing for you both. Allergies are a funny thing aren't they?!?!

And chickpeas don't have to be on the allergy advice either. We made a mistake once with couscous we missed the chickpeas amongst the other ingredients.

He is still allergic to some of the treenuts and seseme seeds and probably sunflower seeds, so the chickpeas are not really a problem.

We got told we didn't need to avoid "may contain nuts" by the dietician at the allergy clinic and over the years I have used my instinct. There is probably a lot more information available now than there were 10 years ago when DS first had a reaction.

eragon - when I contacted G&B when the wording on the packaging changed I had an e-mail stating that the chocolate they flush the machine with after the milk chocolate is discarded. I don't know about other Mars lines obviously.

Yes DS has been eating peanuts regularly for 3 years now. He is still allergic to some treenuts and seseme seeds

While on the subject on 'May Contain' there is also the similar wording 'Made in a factory that uses milk/eggs/nuts etc' - which is similarly ambiguous.
A few months ago I emailed M&S about this as they had this on a lot of packaging and they advised against giving these to dd. They did however say they were changing the wording on their packaging to say 'Not suitable for milk/egg/allergy sufferers' instead and I noticed on a lot of their packaging recently.

With the recent news items about food allergy deaths due to inadequate labelling is it making anyone think again about eating foods labelled 'may contain'? My 21 year old DD is getting very anxious.

We are new to the allergen journey - my DD having been diagnosed with tree nut allergy very recently at age 5. DH and I have very different views on it and it is causing significant problems. I am totally split as to whether to go for total avoidance or allow foods with may contain/traces/factory warnings and see what happens. My DDs only reaction was to actually eating a piece of a brazil nut. Any shared thought welcome.