Discovery Toys--toy with almond powder

Not really sure which forum to post this in, so I went with the biggie!

I just joined Discovery Toys as a consultant a couple months ago. For those who are unfamiliar with DT, it's a direct sales company ala Tupperware or Pampered Chef. Anyway, I'm a bit of a toy and game geek, and it's been great so far.

This morning I got a new DT product out for my son to play with. It's called "Monkey Mouth" and it's a monkey head that comes with play dough, tooth molds, dental tools, etc. It's a great toy for kids to play dentist with. My son has played with this toy a couple of times, but always with my dh.

Anyway, I'm opening up the play dough that comes with the toy and I noticed an odd, slightly familiar, can't-put-my-finger-on-it smell. After about 10 minutes, it struck me--smells like the Christmas cookies my mom used to make and she used almond extract! So I got onto the DT consultant's website and looked up the product--yes, there is "Almond Powder" in the dough, as well as the usual wheat flour! Yikes! It was not marked on the box or the containers of play dough.

My ds is PA only, but we are avoiding tree nuts for all the usual reasons, especially since he's only 4.5, and we also have an 18 month old who we are keeping away from peanuts, tree nuts, fish and shellfish until she's 3. Ds has *never* had an almond problem, was eating almonds right up until his first peanut exposure. He seemed to be fine, so I let him continue to use the dough (since he had already used it several times before now), but told him we would throw the dough away after today because I didn't want the baby to get to it. He was fine with that. So he played and then we cleaned up extra well, scrubbing hands, etc.

I have to admit that I am surprised at how strongly I reacted to this situation. It was like I couldn't wash my hands enough! The smell almost made me feel sick. And we don't have almond allergies here! And it's funny that it took me so long to identify the smell--I guess it's been 2.5 years since we've had any kind of nuts around here!

This is just to let everyone know about this. I will be contacting the product people at DT and explaining the situation about food allergies and how that really, really needs to be labeled on the box for the allergens, and not just on the consultant's website, which the general public can't see. I just kept thinking and worrying about all the people who might have bought this (otherwise very cool) toy who have kids who are TNA and might be in danger. The containers are sealed in plastic; if you do have this, just toss the dough and use regular playdoh.

Will let you know what I hear!

~Jenn
DS Ryan (4.5yo), PA, DD Morgan (1.5yo), NKA