North Carolina labelling

I wouldn't go so far as to say that they (North Carolina) are not aware, rather they are using local ingrediants (peanuts). We live in Chicago and we have found it to be rare that the places here cook with peanut oil...it too expensive. We travel to North Carolina often to visit my husband's family.
The labeling practice does not vary by State. We have shopped at Harris Teeters and Red Lion and found the same labeling practices here as at home.

As for dining out, we always call ahead to restaurants and/or email. Our experience is that many seafood places fry in peanut oil, and some BBQ places use it in their sauce.

Smithfields (local BBQ chain) has been safe for us in the past. Chick-fil-A is not as they cook in peanut oil. I will have to think of the names of some other places. Where is your son going to liiving in NC? I might be able to look back on our old trips (we go to a different area each time we are there--mostly near the coast.)

Hi,
I am from North Carolina and I will be honest, I do not know what the difference is in the labeling from us to Canada. I can tell you that we shop at the Food Lion grocery store chains or at Wal-Mart because they are great about labeling their products. The list of products that we trust is short. I would not say that NC is not allergy aware, however, you do run into places that have no clue. I guess that is everywhere. We do have places that use peanut oil but for the most part Soy bean oil is very popular. We ask questions everywhere we eat and most people are very understanding and will check and double check to ensure your safety. If I can think of anything else I will post it for you.

Thanks for the reply.

My son rarely eats out here in Canada, so the restaurant part isn't so important. What he really needs to find out is which grocery chains are helpful and which brands are trustworthy as far as the labelling of ingredients being complete.

Are Harris Teeters and Red Lion grocery chains? Is there still Safeway in the States? We have that in Canada and perhaps we can check Safeway from here.

He will be in or near Raleigh.

Thanks again:)

Thanks, Tiggermom - My first thanks was to Corinne and I posted before seeing your reply. The more information my son has the better.

I know that there are places and people in Canada who are not really allergy aware, but that is changing. I had heard from various postings that Canada had better labelling than the USA and we wanted to find out exactly what was the difference.

So any stores, brand names or manufacturers you can throw at us would be helpful, even it is just to say to stay away from it.

I've just checked out the FDA website and their labelling for food allergies which I found quite helpful and very similar to the labelling laws for Canada.

The site basically says that the law (in effect as of January 06) states that manufacturers must label for the top 8 allergens and if not in the main ingredient list must be listed either

a)in parentheses following the name of the ingredient.
Examples: "lecithin (soy)," "flour (wheat)," and "whey (milk)"

OR

b)immediately after or next to the list of ingredients in a "contains" statement.
Example: "Contains Wheat, Milk, and Soy."

They list the top 8 allergens as being:
1. Milk
2. Eggs
3. Fish (e.g., bass, flounder, cod)
4. Crustacean shellfish (e.g. crab, lobster, shrimp)
5. Tree nuts (e.g., almonds, walnuts, pecans)
6. Peanuts
7. Wheat
8. Soybeans

This relieves our minds somewhat, as it is much more similar to the Canadian practice than I had thought. If anyone has any thoughts or comments on the reality of the labelling please let us know.

Thanks again:)