Allergy-Free Conversation Hearts for Valentine's Day

When we first found out about my daughter's nut allergy, it was really hard to find "safe" candies for each holiday, especially the really iconic ones like candy corn for Halloween (still trying to find that one!) and of course, conversation hearts for Valentine's Day. It seemed like every candy heart package had a nut allergy warning on it, so she couldn't eat them at class parties or at home. Bummer.

Luckily, Sweet Tarts Hearts are the allergy-free answer to our "conversation heart conundrum." The candies are the Willy Wonka brand, made by Nestle, so I did a little digging to ensure these candies are safe for most food allergies.

The Wonka web site states that "all the Wonka brand sugar candies are peanut/tree nut free." Just to be sure, I called Nestle and asked about the Sweet Tarts Hearts. They assured me that if there were any cross-contact risk for the "Top 8" allergens, this info would be reflected on the label with warnings such as "Processed on equipment that also processed nuts (or the other top 8) or "Made in a facility that also processes peanuts (or egg, etc.) The Nestle rep also said that these candies did not have this risk. The packaging for these candies doesn't list any allergy warnings for any foods--so according to what I was told, these candies can be safely eaten by most.

Of course, if you ever are unsure about a candy, just call the company as I did. The side benefit of calling is that they usually send you free stuff or coupons.

I'm sending these to my daughter's class party--they also sell small boxes of these perfect for taking to school.

Personally, I like the taste of Sweet Tarts better than the "traditional" candy hearts. I bought these at Super Target, but I've seen them for sale everywhere. Enjoy!

Starbucks Again...This Time They Really Blew It

I never thought I'd be forced to write about Starbucks so much in one week, but here I go again! I keep wanting to offer my Valentine's Day candy, baked goods posts and stuff keeps happening! Well, stay tuned for the V-Day stuff.


My friend Wendy of the excellent blog Celiacs in the House just sent me this link and I'm sure the Starbucks story is all over the allergy blogs today.


According to the news reports, a Canadian woman experienced a near fatal reaction after consuming a yogurt parfait in one of the Starbucks cafes. The item was not labeled as containing nuts, but it cut off oxygen to her brain, nearly killed her and ruined her eyesight in one eye. Read the full story here.


Well, there are a lot of things to be freaked out about here. The first one is, the allergic woman did "everything right" in terms of reading a label and asking the staff what's in the food item.

The problem is--who can you trust? The workers at Starbucks, if the parfaits are delivered to the store each a.m. as I assume they are, do they really know what's in it? Are they trained to know what ingredients go into their foods, even? How does Starbucks go about addressing food allergies? Like many of you, I've read labels that say nothing about potential allergens and others that say they may contain some of the "top 8" like nuts or dairy.


The other thing that freaks me out is this: though this certainly wasn't the woman's fault, I was given a list of potential nut-containing foods to avoid after my daughter was diagnosed. Granola--an ingredient of the allergenic Starbucks parfait--was one of those foods. I avoid granola like the plague. It's just too dicey--nuts are usually an ingredient. Why did this woman not do this? Well, she was in a hurry, she was busy, she was hungry. Unfortunately, when you're nut-allergic you can't just grab food like any other person without threat of a reaction. Carry food with you for those times when hunger strikes. That's another lesson we can learn from this.


Another thing: perhaps this woman hadn't had a reaction in awhile and had gotten a little complacent. So easy to do--I know I've been guilty of it myself. Unfortunately, you can't let your guard down. Ever. It's the only way to avoid a reaction. The story also doesn't say that she was carrying an EpiPen, either. I hope she was, but if she wasn't--another lesson learned. Don't leave home without it and teach your kids to do the same as they grow.


Starbucks is saying that the parfait was a "dessert item." For goodness' sake everybody, please avoid desserts if you have a nut allergy!!!! That's number one. In fact, Dr. Wood, author of Food Allergies for Dummies and a peanut-allergic individual himself, says that only once did he have a reaction from a "non-dessert" item. Every other time it was from cookies, a brownie or some other dessert. Unless you've made them yourself, please -- don't go near them!!


Vermont Nut Free now makes nut-free granola products and I think Enjoy Life Foods does as well. Maybe Starbucks should start stocking Enjoy Life items--maybe some already do.

Starbucks will no doubt receive a boatload of response about this and I hope they do the right thing. Giving someone a free "coffee card" isn't really going to cut it.

Just goes to show you that the food industry has a long way to go. So speak up everybody and remember--skip the desserts!

Starbucks and the PB Salmonella Scare

Starbucks just pulled all of its peanut products due to the salmonella scare. Read about it here.

I wonder how the customers will like it? I can't serve my daughter the baked goods there (much to her chagrin--some of them are pretty good) but I don't remember a lot of peanut baked stuff. Mostly it's the granola bars, energy bars, etc. that are getting pulled.

Still, anything that limits peanut residue in a restaurant or cafe gets my stamp of approval.

This peanut butter/salmonella thing is really getting a lot of press this time around, more so than the scare that occured with PB and salmonella a few years ago. Could it be that food allergy/sensitivity sufferers have had an overall effect on how we look at general food safety? That would be a nice side effect to our daily challenges.

Having to give up peanut butter due to the threat of disease may force more people than ever before to try sunbutter, soybutter and other peanut butter substitutes. Wonder if these new habits will stick? (No pun intended. :))

Food Recall Article Only Adds to the Confusion

Don't get me wrong--I'm really glad that the Chicago Tribune is following up on their food allergy investigation with stories like this one that talked about how stores are pulling more supposedly "allergen-free" items that are actually filled with an allergen. The latest story that ran Saturday (check the link) talked about gluten-free items that had to be pulled.

Apparently, a customer with celiac disease became nauseated from a contaminated food and it was discovered that the "gluten-free" Hy-Vee brand chicken bites she ate were actually filled with gluten. The brand pulled the item from store shelves, which helped prevent further illness.

From my perspective, there was just one problem with this story. The woman in question was pregnant and her only reported symptom was that she became nauseated after eating. I don't know about you mothers out there, but when I was pregnant, I became nauseated after eating all the time--and not just during those first 3 months.

The "example consumer" given in this article was troubling to me, because even though it is certainly not good that a pregnant woman and her child were exposed to an allergen harmful to the mother, does this story inspire sympathy in the non-allergic? Or does it make us seem, well, a little over the top?

I'm not picking on people with wheat allergies or celiac disease--I know they are no fun and present several challenges. And I know that true wheat allergies are just as severe as nut allergies. But in the case of this Tribune article is some nausea comparable to anaphylaxis, such as can occur with a severe allergic reaction?

Of course anyone with a food allergy or sensitivity should report it and let others -- including companies -- know about it. No one should have to suffer any symptoms at all if they can avoid it. But there is a big difference between life-threatening reactions (or severe G.I. distress, as can occur with celiac disease) and some minor physical discomfort.

Because of the "nature of the beast" the line between the two often gets blurred. And I'm not sure how it can be resolved so that everyone affected gets a fair shake.

More on the Salmonella Peanut Butter Probe

Here's an interesting excerpt from a recent article on CNN.com about the salmonella outbreak affecting peanut butter products...even dog treats! (I just discovered the dog treats angle last week...I'm a little behind on that one.) My brother sent me this link. Thanks, buddy!

"Anne Muñoz-Furlong, founder of Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network, said people might "walk away with a feeling of knowing what it's like to have a food allergy" because of the salmonella outbreak.

Because of the pervasiveness of peanuts in the food supply, people with peanut allergies read labels "very carefully, so there's not even traces of peanuts in certain foods," Gidus said. They have to inquire about sauce in restaurant dishes and read ingredients for every snack.

"This shows that it sounds very easy to avoid peanuts, but it's not so easy," Muñoz-Furlong said. "It's in so many different places you wouldn't expect it. That's what makes it so challenging."

Peanut butter lover Adam Leidhecker checked online to make sure his food is safe. He combed through his cupboard and found a few peanut butter cookies and crackers and threw them away if those companies hadn't released a statement stating their products were safe.

"The companies not affected need to take an extra step to say that they're on top of it," said Leidhecker, a Williamsport, Pennsylvania, resident.

He said he'll continue to eat his daily creamy peanut butter sandwich and slather peanut butter on a treat for his 2-year-old dog, Lola, after checking the products online.

"I'm not going to go without peanut butter," he said.

Check out this last line, everybody. That's pretty much what we all would have expected, right? :) Even with the threat of severe diarrhea, stomach cramps and vomiting (and possible hospitalization)--the public is clinging to its peanut butter!

What do you all think is behind the sometimes irrationally strong emotional tie to peanut butter? Childhood memories? Easy to swallow? No need to chew if you have no teeth? Any ideas--I'd love to hear them.