Are dates (the fruit) a possible risk?

Liza,
It seems unlikely there would be a connection between dates and nuts. The funny thing is though, my husband is also Middle Eastern and he brings home dates that he buys in little ethnic shops. I don't give them to my son because I'm always reluctant to give him new foods he hasn't had before and I worry about cross contamination. I don't know the conditions under which the dates are processed (they are pitted and wrapped in styrofoam containers in the shop) and I worry they could be contaminated with nuts or sesame (my son is allergic to peanuts and sesame). So I guess I'm saying the dates probably would be OK, but cross contamination could be a problem.

Liza - has your son been tested for a latex allergy? I ask because kiwi has been known to cause allergic reactions in people allergic to latex. Other fruit causes problems too:
Allergens which Cross-react with Latex
Bananas
Avocados
Chestnuts
Kiwi fruit
Cayley is fine with dates, as long as there is no warning on the package. I agree with the above post - the date fruit is probably fine, it's the cross-contamination that might be an issue.

The original post about a newly developed allergy is really scary. I guess anyone with an allergy should always be alert for newly developing ones. We didn't know about my son's allergies (walnut and peanut) until he was 8! Mostly because we didn't pick up on the little signs and thus didn't have him tested. And also because he always naturally avoided the allergens. We do have a good friend who at age 26 developed a SEVERE allergy to kiwi's. Her first reaction, after having eating kiwi with no problems in the past, was a full-blown 911, ambulance, epi-pen (skip the benadryl) SERIOUS reaction. Seems strange after having had kiwi the week before with NO problems. This relates to the original comment about kiwi because six years later she has also developed an allergy to latex. As I understand it the proteins are similar in structure for the Kiwi, latex, strawberries (and the other foods mentioned) and that is why those people often develop reactions to the other things. But, my point is that it can occur right away, or it can develop years later, or not at all. Once again we have more uncertainty! That's the hardest thing about these allergies is that regardless of the precautions you take--you always feel some level of vulnerability!

Oops! Didn't mean to say strawberries. I knew after I submitted the post that this was wrong. I did however find some interesting info about latex allergies. A good source of links is: [url="http://latexallergylinks.tripod.com/cross."]http://latexallergylinks.tripod.com/cross.[/url]
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Hope this is helpful. Apparently there is a long list of foods associated with latex allergies. It just reinforces to me that we can't avoid everything--but we can make the best choices possible--and ALWAYS carry the medications needed in case of a reaction.

Hi, I like to make date squares and I have a really hard time finding packaged dates that do not have a warning of cross-contamination with peanuts/nuts. The dates themselves are ok for my brother and son as they are not allergic to dates.

i stay away from packaged fruits because i had a reaction in the past that was scary. i'm sure it was because of cross-contamination like bahumbug29 said. when i read the package it seemed safe but wasn't in the end so now i steer clear of them.