As the parent of two kids with nut and other food allergies, I live in constant fear of hidden allergens in food. (I wrote in 2006 about my older son’s near-death experience from an unmarked peanut-butter cookie.) Here is good news for parents who find themselves in this situation: Food-sniffing dogs trained to protect…
More Food Allergies Follow-up
Another follow-up to my post earlier this week, Food Allergies and the Law. A lawyer in Wisconsin sent me a thoughtful note detailing his own experiences with peanut allergies and his thoughts on prevention. I asked if I could share it here and he agreed, but he requested that I not identify him by…
Food Allergies Follow-up
My post Tuesday, Food Allergies and the Law, inspired May contain traces of nuts …, a post by the anonymous Australian lawyer who writes the blog The Legal Soapbox, describing her own life-threatening allergy to nuts. She rants (her word, not mine) about the vagueness and inconsistency of food-labeling laws and calls…
Food Allergies and the Law
[Note: The following column originally appeared elsewhere in print. Response was so strong that I decided to republish it here. -RJA]
One recent day, an unlabeled peanut-butter cookie nearly killed my teenaged son. We’ve known of his peanut allergy since he was an infant and thought we had it pretty well in hand.…