one of our girls had a reaction to vanilla ice cream from the grocery store last year. there was no allergy warning of any kind on it and nothing to indicate peanuts or nuts in the ingredient list. fortunately, it was the smallest reaction she's ever had, with just facial swelling, and she was alright after a few hours and treatment. joey

DS last anaphylactic reaction was to a cheesecake from a large bakery. It had no warning on the label. When I got the 11 page inventory of all the supplies they use in all their products, the whole last page was nothing but nuts in all their forms. This is why we won't have anything from a bakery ever again.
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Cynde

Almost al my reactions were due to cross-contamination:
- marzipan on top of a birthday cake
- "no-name"-type chocolate bar from boy scouts with no warning on the label
- pastry from a bakery

DS reacted to an Amy's Organics Spinach/Feta pocket sandwich. He had been eating them for two and a half years without incident (started prior to my participation here, and before I was aware of problems with cross-contamination), so I had never called about them. I had also checked labels on every Amy's product our store carried, and had seen *nothing* with nuts.
Come to find out, they bake an apple dessert with walnuts, and pizza with pinenut based pesto in the same ovens as the spinach pockets. DS had had literally *hundreds* of these things -- we bought them by the case -- without incident -- other than an occasional patch of excema, which we attributed to the feta cheese in the pocket.
Then he ate one for supper one evening, and I noticed his cheeks were flushed and covered with a fine rash. Nothing huge, but enough to put my guard up. For that reason, I went to check on him after DH put him to bed. When I went into his room, DS' "Hi, mommy" came out in the strangest, high-pitched voice I had ever heard -- as if he'd been breathing in helium -- that really unusual squeakiness. I gave him Benedryl, and stayed with him, and he was back to normal within half an hour -- his voice back to proper range, and the flush faded.
In another scenario, our local Wild Oats store had improperly labeled one of its pizzas for over two years, before "correcting" it to mention the fact that it contained pinenut pesto -- previously it was labeled "tomato basil pesto". I make a homemade basil pesto that doesn't contain pinenuts, and WO labeling is usually very specific and reliable, so I took it for granted that it was accurate. DS never had that particular pizza, but often enjoyed a slice of cheese pizza, baked on the same oven shelves, and probably sliced with the same cutter.
He would usually get a small patch of excema on his cheek afterwards, but we chalked that up to cheese overload (he had had a mild dairy allergy when he was a baby), and just made sure that we spaced our visits somewhat. It was our only (we thought) safe eat-out treat, and he enjoyed it hugely.
We stopped when we found out about the pinenuts, and switched to homemade.
When our supply of safe soy cheese for finally ran out, we switched over to using mozzarella on his homemade pizza. He has never had a spot of excema after eating it, even loaded with cheese. He enjoys string cheese, and cheddar cheese (we buy it in 5 lb logs and slice it at home) -- no problems whatsoever. Same for butter, homemade ice cream, whipped cream -- no problems, including excema.
We have come to think that perhaps his dairy "allergy" was really a problem with cross-contamination right along.
-Sue

Hi Cindy,
I raised the thread because I thought it was a good one. I know that cross contamination was very scary for me when we started dealing with the PA. We have a lot of new members to the board and I just thought that this was a topic that never goes out of "style" - [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
Sue in Sunny Arizona

Re-raising. Great question Cindy! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
My husband and I are gathering info and trying to find our comfort zones. Along with products/restaurants to stay away from.
Thanks!
Pamela

DD's has had reactions from Flipz chocolate covered pretzels (labeled - may contain), Mrs. Fields Cookie (manufactured on the same line), a chocolate bakery cookie, and mini M&M's.
Maggie

Our dd had a reaction to a yogurt covered pretzel (label did not indicate may contain). We investigated and found out that the yogurt had been used previously with nuts.