I need your help - taking girl with nut allergy on school trip to Germany

[roisin]

OK I've arranged to meet up with her and her mum to discuss avoidance of nuts on the trip, and what to do if she has a reaction.

I have a fair body of knowledge already: my dh has a severe peanut allergy (and has only been exposed to nuts twice in 14 years of marriage - so we're good at avoiding them), I have been trained to use an epipen, have done injections before, and I speak fluent German.

What else do I need to know/check/prepare?

When I lived in Germany virtually every cake, biscuit, chocolate bar, and sweet pastry had nuts in. Does anyone know if this is still the case, and how nut-allergy aware the Germans are?

Obviously I know the standard words for food, nuts, etc: erdnuesse, mandeln, haselnuesse, usw. But can anyone help me out with nut-allergy related words/phrases? Such as epipen, anaphylactic shock, etc.

PS I'm about to go out for the day - so please excuse me if I don't reply immediately.

check that she knows all the words she would ever need in german regarding anaphalaxis, nuts, allergies etc

but think you've got it covered

I would also suggest she pairs up with a friend/s who is aware of her allergies and is possibly epipen trained.
BTw my ds has nut allergy and it makes me want to weep with gratitude when people like you are so caring and concerned.
Maybe she could take some treats from home that are safe incase of times when everyone else is enjoying a pastry.

ggirl - I was a bit shocked tbh that we had a child with a serious nut allergy in school, and I didn't already know about it!

Does anyone know about Germany and nuts? See OP. Ta

R

anaphylactic shock = allergischer/anaphylaktischer Schock

for epipen I've only been able to find 'Notfall-Set'

Labelling here is sadly not very nut allergy-aware IMO - however you are more likely to find appropriately labelled products in 'Reformhäusern'. Chocolate can be dangerous as traces of nuts in chocolate do not have to be declared.

Where will she be staying - together with you or with a host family?

Which area are you going to?

Thanks for the help - we're going to Rheinland - not far from Koblenz. We're staying in a hotel, full-board. The hotel have already been informed, and I will telephone them, and speak to them when we arrive.

But we have 20 hrs journey on a coach each way when she'll have to purchase food - so we'll have to be very careful then.

yes, I would second that - on a slightly different subject, I was often told things like for example "every product in our bakery contains butter" because they think that's what the customer wants to hear. There is generally a low awareness of food allergies ime.

Oh great
That's not what I wanted to hear, but it is what I needed.
Thanks