I don't want any of you to make the same assumption that I did. If you are going into a restaraunt, hospital, school or other institution to eat -- you may want to stay away from the questionable items -- do not depend on the labeling.
I have just discovered (maybe you all knew) that distributors of bulk quantities of food includes companies that distribute to the above locations. I thought it just referred to those items sold in "bulk bins" at grocers.
For more details, see the following thread:
Topic: Food distributors labeling requirements the same as manufacturer?
My main concern regarding "asking" a restaurant if they use peanut oil, peanut products or ANYTHING related is that what if they aren't taking the time to REALLY check into it. What if they are just throwing a "No we don't" without ACTUALLY KNOWING?? This really scares me! Anyone have any advice? Do you really trust restaurants that say "no peanuts"? Or, better safe than sorry and not eat out??
We eat out quite frequently and always ask (or remind if it is someplace we frequent). We make it real clear that if they don't check, ds could die. they generally take us seriously and it takes a while before they will come back and say things are ok.
I have to say that I frequently feel that they just say things are okay without checking. And I'm always left feeling like an idiot for asking (I know I shouldn't but I do). We don't eat out that often, mainly because one of my children is such a picky eater it's not usually worth it. Also, I find it very hard to trust that the food is truly peanut free.
Karen
Jody2boys, welcome! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
It's interesting, you raised something I had thought about last week when I ordered pizza from Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut is "safe" for PA individuals in Canada.
However, about a month ago, they had a special running where if you ordered two pizzas you got cookies and pop. I asked about the cookies, obviously pre-packaged, and they were "may contain".
Last week when I ordered, I was offered cinnamon rolls as a free dessert. I asked if they were safe for peanut allergic individuals and the VERY young woman on the phone said "yes, everything at Pizza Hut is peanut free".
Well, yes, everything that they use to make the pizzas is peanut free and I'm assuming that because the cinnamon rolls were also made there they were safe as well, but what about those pre-packaged cookies they brought in? So, saying "everything at Pizza Hut is peanut free" wasn't quite true. Do you know what I mean?
We don't eat out a lot, but I guess we eat out enough and we also eat a lot of pre-packaged foods, and truth be told, I've never really had a problem with restaurants.
Greasy spoons, etc. I just make sure we ask all of the questions, and my son has started to ask himself and take it from there. And, of course, we avoid places like Chinese food and other ones that I know might be dangerous.
I remember the last time we went into a Chinese food restaurant, a couple of years ago. The food probably was "safe" but the difficulty I had there was that the people running the restaurant couldn't understand my questions. So I was afraid to let my son eat there because I know that Chinese can NOT be okay and I couldn't get answers. So, that was the last time we ate at a Chinese food restaurant.
But again, on the whole, we've had good experiences eating out and had our questions answered well.
Best wishes! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
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Mostly we don't eat out much anymore. Not worth the risk to us. Guess we'll be stuck vacationing to Disneyworld for years (well educated chefs).
The lovely side effect of not eating out is that we have been healthier this winter than ever before.
reminds me of the very funny (and very scarey) time we stopped at a fastfood drivethru and asked about the safety of ordering ice cream items. the "boy" carhop said "oh...don't worry...we have peanut butter shakes here but we don't have peanuts in anything." there are people out there that think PA people are only allergic to the actual peanut. frightening. joey
I encountered the same thing at our local "Purple Cow". I called before we went and was assured that nothing on the menu contained peanut ingredients. When we got there, we discovered the ice cream counter had loads of peanuts and peanut butter shakes!