Sunday, January 11, 2009

Surviving Food Allergies

Any food storage program must take into account the possible dangers and side effects of food allergies. People can be allergic to any type of food. This may include fruits, vegetables, and meats. While you can have an allergic reaction to any type of food, there are eight major foods that account for the majority of all allergic reactions to food. Knowing which foods and food additives that can put you at risk will help you be better prepared.

Tips for Managing Food Allergies

1.) Milk and dairy products which cause lactose intolerance.

2.) Eggs and products containing eggs.

3.) Peanuts.

4.) Tree nuts such as cashews or pecans.

5.) Fish and fish oils.

6.) Shellfish such as oysters.

7.) Soy and soy-related products.

8.) Wheat which causes allergies commonly known as gluten intolerance.

There are many foods that can be safely eaten if you have certain food allergies, but there are even more that can cause allergic reactions due to cross contamination. Many safe foods can sometimes be contaminated when processed on the same equipment or in the same facility along with foods that can cause allergic reactions. There are also many food additives and ingredients that may contain different forms that can cause an allergic food reaction. This leads to potential problems for people with severe allergic reactions to certain foods.

An excellent source for information about food allergies can be found here:

http://www.foodallergy.org/

If you have persons or children that have certain food allergies you will need to devote extra time and effort in to finding safe alternatives. Food safety should be a primary concern for everyone.

Staying above the water line!

Riverwalker

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is one reason I advocate that most of the foods stored in your preparedness cache be the same as the foods you eat on a regular basis.

riverwalker said...

Good point! Don't need to find out later you can't eat what you've stored. Thanks.

RW

WrethaOffGrid said...

Hey RW, this has absolutely nuttin' to do with this message, I just nominated you to receive the Lemonade Stand Award, you can check it out here...
http://wretha.blogspot.com/2009/01/lemonade-stand-award.html
or
http://tinyurl.com/936p9k

Wretha

riverwalker said...

To: Wretha

Thanks for the nomination!

RW

Anonymous said...

We have one person in our family with a severe peanut allergy, and another with a severe shellfish allergy.

I recommend that people with allergies remember to have an extra two epipens in your Doomsday Kit. It's not very well-known, but your epipen may only get you 15 minutes of relief (enough for the ambulance to arrive), but what if ambulance service is disrupted? I've not met a physician yet you won't write a scrip for a epipen refill given any odd excuse.

My public service announcement is done -- but my rant is just beginning. You need to assume that anything purchased from a storage food company is contaminated with some or all of "the big eight". It's a gigantic pain in my ass to buy food that will be safe for my kids to eat. I end up buying a can, testing it on them now when I can get to a hospital easily, and then buying in bulk FROM THE SAME RUN. It's hard, I tell you.

riverwalker said...

To: anonymous

You would think that some company out there would take advantage of the fact that there are a great many people who desperately need "allergy safe" sources of food. Thanks for your insight and I wish you and yours the best as you seek to find safe food sources. I will also do some research as to safe sources also.

RW

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