nut allergy and chocolate

[hayleyhew]

Just found out my son has a nut allergy. I phoned cadburys and they were very helpful and told me how to see which chocolate he was all right with. Choc buttons came up ok and was really pleased as my eldest eats these. But then I keep seeing on mumsnet kinnerton is only safe one?

probably depends on how serious his allergy is.......My DS has a peanut allergy......but he is ok with eating stuff that says 'may contain traces of nuts' etc...if it says 'not suitable for nut allergy sufferers' i don;t give it to him...

he would have a reaction if he actually ate nuts, .his reaction was to peanut butter,( mouth swelled, lips swelled, retching, vomiting, rash and swollen eyes)

and we have never let him near it , or any nut filled stuff again.....

My son ate humus and had a bad reaction his face swelled up and hives and little bit of trouble breathing. I had him allergy tested RAST Test - and found out he has a sesame, nut and egg (know egg isnt too bad though as I used to put it in the bread machine).

ok...well, ds can eat hummous and sesame , so i suppose he is not as allergic .....i know kinnerton is nut free entirely.. a lot of friends and family buy it for DS as they don;t feel confident enough to buy other stuff, even though i tell them it is ok....sorry to not be of more help!

I also allow my ds to have chocolate that says "may contrain traces of nut" and he seems fine, but if I can, I buy him kinnerton (like Easter). I suppose in a way we are luck as ds has never had a reaction to nuts, it was just picked up on a RAST test which was done to confirm milk & egg allergy.

DS has tree nut and sesame allergy. What to let them have is a hard one. I only give him Kinnerton chocolate, which in NZ is only available at easter. I tend to let him eat things that say 'made in the same factory' but not 'on the same production line'. Otherwise he would go without most things, ice lollies etc here are all made in the same factory as cornettos.

My ds is allergiv to peanuts also. I give him chocolate that says may contain traces but I avoid what I personally consider higher risks eg I never give him m&ms as they are so closely linked to peanut m&ms.

I know a lady who works for Mars here in Australia and she said that the safest choices would be to go for different "shapes" to the chocs that contain nuts as they are made on different equipment. Probably explains why the cadbury buttons are okay as they would be made on different equipment to choc bars with nuts iyswim.

Cadbury have been known to end up with a nut in a bar of dairy milk - so I would agree to go with buttons and shapes.

Sibble - I have Kinnerton Chocolate santas from Countdown. They are like the Thomas ones - but Santa obviously.

thanks wethreebobKings am off to countdown today

I don't think you can ever assume that anyone is OK with "may contain" nuts. The whole point is that it may contain nuts, or on the other hand it may not. Depends whether they have had mishap at the factory.

If they've been OK with "may contain" so far, it is because the things they ate actually did not contain nuts. No guarantee whatsoever that the next one will be OK. "Not suitable for nut allergy sufferers" means exactly the same thing, as far as I know. But I'd be interested if anyone knows different.

I'm interested that Cadburys say buttons are OK. They have a bad record for cross-contamination, so I'd like to know how certain they are.

I like Kinnerton because I know how careful they are. My MIL lives near the factory and has had a guided tour of their nut-free facility. Very carefully managed.

I give my son chocolate buttons,I will also give him some things with a nut warning on it.I think it's all a matter of weighing up the risk.I certainly wouldn't allow him to eat something with a warning on it if he was away from home,or someone else was caring for him.
I do feel you need to find the right balance for you and your child.Some things obviously have no risk but still have a warning ,ie a glass of milk in M&S fgs.

none of the tests for nut allergy can actually tell you if your child will have a clinically important reaction to nuts. However the higher the figure on the rast test the more likely it is that a child will have a bad reaction. My kid tests as very sensitive to peanut and a rather nasty reaction confirmed that so we don't buy anything with "may contain " warnings. I thought it was too complicated to have one rule with us and another with other people, simpler just to say no all the time. I have risked an ice cream with a "may contain" warning on a hot day but generally we stick to lollipops when out and vienetta/ carte d'or/ sometimes magum at home. Expensive business feeding a nut allergic child!

We have kinnerton chocolate but also galaxy chocolate and kitkats. We've had smarties. I think we've had chocolate buttons when other people have given them to us but I don't like Cadbury's record of contamination so wouldn't usually buy their products. At this time of year it is possible to find some chocolate coins without nut warnings.

Anaphylaxis campaign advice is that if you must risk "may contain" foods you speak to the manufacturer to see what the real risk is. Obviously nut free factories are safest, nuts in the factory but not that line are more dangerous, nuts on that line more dangerous still. It could change the next week.

Ultimately you have to find a level of risk that you can live with. No food is completely safe because there's always the chance someone has been careless. Kinnerton have a very good safety record and Cadbury don't but that's partly because Cadburys make a lot more chocolate. However Kinnerton operate a nut free area and I don't think Cadburys too - they used to just pump masses of chocolate through to clean equipment used to produce nut chocolate then sell it as may contain nut traces.