Warning: Krogers Grocery Store offering peanuts as samples!

Thanks for the heads up. I loyally shop at Kroger and I have noticed the open bins with bagged peanuts, but I haven't seen any free samples of them. That is terrible!!! I live central Kentucky, so it's not that far off from where you are. I'll be on the look out. If my little one goes with me, I may call first just to make sure. If there are, I'll definitely do some complaining to the management, too! That is simply an accident waiting to happen.

The other day I took my son to Kroger with me and they were offering free peanut butter sandwich samples near the breads. The lady held one out to my son and said "can he have one" As I pushed the cart away I told her of his allergy and she said "oh...thats why I have this warning" it was a little sign that had print so small you could not read it. But I kept thinking and felt worried that someone would touch my son (because he IS so cute:)!!!)after they had the peanuts in thier hands.
I'm sure other little kids sitting in carts got full of the yummy Peanuts...what if my son got that cart...and I did not use his cart cover. Just seems crazy to me.

unfortunately, i think this is just something we're gonna have to deal with from time to time, as i don't see the sampling of "yummy" peanuts/peanut products going away anytime soon, no matter how many people this allergy afflicts.

i was at whole foods today and they had an open container of peanut butter cookies for sampling at the customer service desk at the entrance of the store ... being at the entrance, of course, ensures that EVERYONE (not just those needing customer service) can grab some and pop them in their mouth on the way in, which is what i saw happening.

WHY WHY WHY, i kept asking myself, while feeling sorry for myself that i would have to worry the entire time i was in the store with my 2 year old PA daughter in a cart that YES was probably touched by many other kids who had sampled the cookies.

i asked the same question ... out of all of the cookies you could sample, why do you have to sample something highly allergenic like peanut butter ... and i swear to you she looked at me like i was crazy, probably thinking that i was upset my daughter couldn't eat any!!!!!

yes, i squandered an opportunity to educate someone, but i was so worried/disappointed that i didn't want to even bother. do you ever feel this is like fighting a losing battle!?

by the way, i forgot half the stuff i had gone in for, which is probably better, as i shouldn't support a store that is so allergy UN-friendly!

Before I had my son I wouldn't have thought twice about peanut allergies. I hardly knew anything about it and what I did know was not entirely correct. I don't think we can blame anyone for offering samples, etc. They are simply uneducated about it. Hopefully each time they hear something more about it more will sink in.

hi, lj,

i can certainly relate to your post, as i was the exact same way ... knew little about PA and didn't know anyone with PA. however, there *should* be some accountability among people working in the grocery/food service/restaurant business. ideally, these people would be (should be?) required to have a rudimentary knowledge of FA, one would hope.

I considered myself to have a rudimentary knowledge before I had to deal with my own child's food allergies. However, my knowledge included nothing about cross-contamination (such as on the shopping cart handles, shared plates, etc.) I'm sure they will get it eventually with more education, just maybe not to the level we want or expect.

just wanted to update: Krogers has thankfully removed the peanut samples...

CTMartin,
I shop at Whole Foods sometimes too...once while I was in there, I saw a man let his toddler run around eatting freshly ground peanut butter from a paper cup with her fingers. It was all over her.

You know, since so many people are coming up allergic to peanuts/treenuts, I'd think a grocery chain could make alot of money advertising that they are allergy aware and commited to the safety of all shoppers.