Help with nut allergy please.

[ZeldaUpNorth]

I've invited one of dd's friends for a little tea party who has a nut allergy. I've not seen her mam lately to ask what she can/cant have (but will next time i see her)

However i've just recieved some fondant for the birthday cake (from Ebay) and it says "may contain nuts" So is that a no-no? Don't most things have that on? I'm making the cake/cupcakes etc myself so can be sure of no nuts but wouldn't of had time to do the fondant/icing too. Thanks.

The ingredients dont list nuts as one.

Its a no no I'm afraid. Any products with warnings on are no good. If her parents are like me, we tend to not let our dd eat other things to what we supply due to contamination risks ect. However, do you live near a sainsbury? They do sell, in our area a cheap little slab cake from 'just love food company' at only £2.99 You could offer that or famous baking boys items are nut contamination free also

They will have a nut safe promise on the boxes. Hope that helps. Any other stated risk with nuts is a bit dodgy I'm afraid and could trigger a reaction.

And yey my nut-allergic dd would be fine with this. You do need to check with the parents.

At ds's allergy clinic appt in September the nutritionist told us that the advice has changed and for ds to eat things that say may contain nuts. He's been doing this without a problem since then.

Really! oh my god thats strange....................am I getting out dated I think I would be to scared after all these years of avoidance!!!

I have a teenager who's been nut allergic forever........and how families handle it (and teach their child to handle it) varies tremendously.
Some of that is because some children are EXTREMELY allergic and respond at miniscule quantities, some is because some families are naturally more cautious than others.
Any nut warning should raise alarm bells, and I'm sure the nut allergic child's mum will be a) most grateful that you'd thought to ask and b) will be more than willing to help with either suggestions of alternatives or with supplying an alternative.

Personally, I always welcomed any query, because it showed great consideration and an effort to make DS included.

Hope that's a bit of help.

Yes I agree MuddlinOn. My dd reacted terribly just to the skin prick test alerting the nurse to ensure we had our piriton for the way home! prior to that dd's first bad reaction was to a peanut she only sucked on. I would never feel it viable for her to put herself at risk being so sensitive. You do hear of some children being positive in tests but not on eating the actual nuts. I wonder if this more so applies to them-about eating may contain items. AtAmber is your ds very allergic on eating nuts?

The problem is 'may contain' means different things for different companies and covers a wide range of risk. For example, some companies put 'may contain' when there are none in the ingredients or in their factories but they can't guarantee that their suppliers haven't contaminated the ingredients so the risk is very low. Other companies like Cadbury's however say 'may contain nuts' when they use the same machine to produce a nut-free chocolate bar after producing fruit & nut for example therefore there is a very risk (and pieces of nut have been found in choc bars with no nuts in the ingredients). Many companies stick 'may contain' on everything just to cover their backsides, avoid prosecution and not have to make any effort to avoid contamination. I'm afraid it's a total minefield. My advice would be to check with the parents in question as they will have their own view on 'may contain'. My husband is allergic to nuts but he chooses to eat things that say 'may contain' because he's never had a really bad reaction and that's his choice but I don't take that risk with my son.

Chloesmum - he's allergic to all nuts, coconut, sesame and lupin. He's got epipens but we've never needed to use them, thankfully. I do think that he's not as allergic as some people are, but when they did the skin prick tests again in September the nutritionist came into the room and seemed really shocked. The worst reaction he's had was 4 years ago in lanzarote when he was 8. A member of staff in the children's club gave him a ferrero rocher. His skin prick tests show that his worst reaction is to hazelnuts! His face was swollen and he had white seals on his body. This is why I think that he's not as bad as he could be.

Hi, thanks for all the replies, I've never had to consider allergy risk as none of my dd's have them. TBH i'm crapping myself about it all and going to scour the ingredients of everything i put out for the tea party. I contacted the seller who said it was made in the same factory as marzipan is used so may contain almonds (the little girl is only allergic to peanuts).

However i finally met up with her mam today and she said the icing will be fine I've added her on facebook so i can ask about anything i may be wary of. :)

"At ds's allergy clinic appt in September the nutritionist told us that the advice has changed and for ds to eat things that say may contain nuts. He's been doing this without a problem since then."

That was the advice given to us 10 years ago!