newbie in this section.. any advice is welcomed... Just seen Mr Clarke DS1 has peanut allergy

[NeverKnowinglyUnderstood]

he ahs had some really wierd reactions and after a referal we had a skin prick for lots of things and the peanut came up greater than the others. (several came up but not things we should worry about)

my concerns are that he has reacted at home to things that say "may contain trace of nut"

Does that mean that we not only have to avoid actual peanut products but also all may have trace things as well?

Sorry to sound so thick, we are so very new to all this (1.5 hours new)

bump?

yes. we do. also had reactions to foods with may contain.

leave plenty of time for yr first food shop ! lots of label reading to do.

first shop is always tricky, gets easier with time.

Hello and welcome to the wonderful minefield that is the world of allergies! The problem is that "may contain" means different things to different companies. For some it can mean that there's a machine the other side of the factory that uses nuts but for others it can mean that the same machine was used to produced a nut product just before so there's no real way of knowing the level of risk. Cadbury's, for example, use "may contain" if the chocolate was produced on the same machine as a nut product - they clean the lines with chocolate but this isn't enough to remove all traces of nuts so the contamination risk is high.

thanks ladies.

We are SO confused!!
we have been through the cupboards and looked at the things he enjoys eating that he doesn't react to. and most say may contain nuts
We eat a huge amount of chinese and thai food, usually prepared with peanuts or nut oil and he has no reaction to those things.
I saw the prick test, I know it came up but can it be wrong?

We avoid may contain and produced in a factory that handles but think compared to other people we are a bit more cautious.

My dd is allergic to peanuts. She was seen at Addenbrookes and we were given a clear steer that "traces of nuts" was ok. However, she has had two slight reactions after eating chocolate with "may contain" labels so think babybarrister's advice is sound. She's never had any other problem eating other foods containing "traces of".

did you see mr clark?

No, Dr Ewan, who heads up the clinic.

Nut oil is almost always highly refined and so contains none of the proteins that cause a reaction (however beware cold press nut oil which is unrefined).

My dd has had an anaphylactic reaction to just tasting a margherrita pizza that said 'may contain traces of nuts.' I actually quickly grabbed the slice out of her mouth so she had it in her mouth for a few seconds. But I still didn't think a pizza could give her a reaction so we were very shocked when two hours later she started coughing, choking and then became unconscious.
So obviously since then we avoid all 'may contain' labels.

Good luck. And it does get easier, honestly. :)

thanks,
I had a chat to my friend last night who is a paediatrician.
She said that she has heard of companies who put may contain nuts because they can't be bothered to clearly research all their produce, so they buy the cheapest oil without knowing what type of oil it is and it could be nut oil, they neither know nor care. and then just throw May contain nuts onto the label to cover themselves.

I am sorry there are so many other people who have had to take this journey but am very grateful of the advice!

So we can now add raw egg allergy to the mix.
It does look like we will not have to worry too much though as cooked egg really is ok. and Raw egg is easy enough to avoid.
Thanks so much all for your support it really has been appreciated
We are picking up a Jext Junior tomorrow

Teacher has just asked if we need to avoid egg boxes..
what do you think? I said no but is that wrong?

I would avoid if raw egg is a problem. Eggs are a no no for us so we definitely avoid egg boxes.
I hope you are finding things a bit easier now. Otherwise just shout for help on here. :)