Laminated Food Allergy Translation Cards

Now why didn't I think of that?? [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/wink.gif[/img]

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[url="http://www.indystar.com/articles/1/140683-3621-047.html"]http://www.indystar.com/articles/1/140683-3621-047.html[/url]

Got food allergies? You'll want this

By Kevin G. Demarrais
The Record (Bergen County, N.J.)
April 25, 2004

In Berlin, you'd say, "Ich bin allergiech gegen Erdnusse."

In Warsaw, it's "Mam alergie na orzeszki ziemne."

But what if you're traveling, have a life-threatening food allergy, and don't know how to say "I am allergic to peanuts" in the local language?

A small Wayne, N.J., company has a solution: laminated food allergy translation cards.

The cards come in nine languages -- English, Spanish, Italian, French, German, Russian, Polish and two versions of Portuguese -- and give warnings about 27 foods. Included are products that most often cause problems, such as milk, nuts, shellfish, wheat, soy and peanuts.

Each card has three messages -- "I am allergic to peanuts," "Does this food contain peanuts?" and "No peanuts!" -- and consumers can substitute any of the other 26 foods for peanuts.

The cards are the brainchild of Jim and Pam Ahlberg, who run SelectWisely from their Wayne home.

After doing some testing with friends, the Ahlbergs created [url="http://www.selectwisely.com"]www.selectwisely.com[/url] to sell the cards to the public.

The Ahlbergs tested the product on a recent trip to Spain, and "it actually works," he said. "I don't speak Spanish, and it worked great."

Pricing was difficult because there is nothing on the market like it, Jim Ahlberg said. And he's still not certain whether to charge for shipping (it's about $1 now).

They settled on $6.95 for a one-language, one-product card that can be downloaded from the Web site.

For two customized laminated wallet-sized cards ordered over the Web site, whether for one language or food or multiples of either, the price is $14.95.