Tree nut allergy Questions...

[lovinpoohbear]

My Ds had a bad reaction to treenuts and when we travelled to WDW last June, we had the disney dining plan and felt VERY safe at the restaurants. The chefs talked to us and told us what he could and could not have.
Now locally, I don;t feel "safe" anymore. It just seems chefs are not always knowledgeable about what is nut free. And so many food items are made in a tree nut facility that we have to avoid.
Does anyone know of chains that have a nut free menu? I am so paranoid. I carry the epipens, prelone and benadryl with me but I am afraid of eating out.

 

[travelingirlie]

I'm allergic to peanuts and treenuts and it gets tough, but i eat out all the time. before ordering something I always double check with the waiter and ask for a list of ingrediants. Then when I get the food, just double check. It has worked for me.
Hope this helps you!!

 

[GoofyFairie]

My Ds had a bad reaction to treenuts and when we travelled to WDW last June, we had the disney dining plan and felt VERY safe at the restaurants. The chefs talked to us and told us what he could and could not have.
Now locally, I don;t feel "safe" anymore. It just seems chefs are not always knowledgeable about what is nut free. And so many food items are made in a tree nut facility that we have to avoid.
Does anyone know of chains that have a nut free menu? I am so paranoid. I carry the epipens, prelone and benadryl with me but I am afraid of eating out.

My children suffer from tree nut and peanut allergy as well as egg and sesame. My children don't eat out. I can't think of one safe place for them to eat. I would love for a safe place for them to have a meal.

 

[travelingirlie]

yeah. egg and seseame would be tough along with the nuts. My oldest daughter is also allergic to nuts along with me.

 

[lilmissdisney216]

My boyfriend has a severe allergy to tree nuts and we eat out just about all the time and we've done just fine. So far so good. We just make sure to let our waitress/waiter know about his allergy so we can prevent any anaphylactic reactions. We've done pretty good so far.

 

[hildarumpole]

Two of my kids have severe peanut and tree nut allergies. We haven't had any problems at Olive Garden and Friday's. Applebee's and Pizza Hut are off limits. The tomato sauce at Pizza Hut has a nut warning. Applebee's was just clueless. Many chain restaurants have food allergy info on their websites. The fast food chains tend to have the most comprehensive info on ingredients and allergens. I check McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, Culver's, and Arby's websites regularly to see if they've changed anything.

I know it's a scary thing when you've witnessed your child suffer a severe allergic reaction. We went through a period when we were afraid to eat anywhere after my youngest had an anaphylactic reaction. We decided we couldn't be prisoners anymore and had to teach our kids how to deal with their allergies in the real world. As long as you take some time to do a little homework, ask questions, and are not afraid to leave a place if you don't feel safe, you can enjoy eating out.

 

[lovinpoohbear]

Two of my kids have severe peanut and tree nut allergies. We haven't had any problems at Olive Garden and Friday's. Applebee's and Pizza Hut are off limits. The tomato sauce at Pizza Hut has a nut warning. Applebee's was just clueless. Many chain restaurants have food allergy info on their websites. The fast food chains tend to have the most comprehensive info on ingredients and allergens. I check McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, Culver's, and Arby's websites regularly to see if they've changed anything.

I know it's a scary thing when you've witnessed your child suffer a severe allergic reaction. We went through a period when we were afraid to eat anywhere after my youngest had an anaphylactic reaction. We decided we couldn't be prisoners anymore and had to teach our kids how to deal with their allergies in the real world. As long as you take some time to do a little homework, ask questions, and are not afraid to leave a place if you don't feel safe, you can enjoy eating out.

OMG! I didn't know that Pizza Huts sauce had a nut warning!! We ate there in Orlando on our way to the airport. Funny thing is, DS4 wasn't hungry and didn't want pizza. It was strange too because he is such a good eater.
Thank god he didn't eat it!!
I am a nurse and although it sounds crazy, I know what to do when he has an allergic reaction but I panic at the same time.
When he had to go into an ambulance with a reaction, I passed out. Than I vomited. I am so nervous of him encountering anything with nuts.
In fact. today at the supermarket, it had a "nut free" meat slicer. I have never heard of nuts in coldcuts. Well, I asked and apparently lots of deli meats have nuts, so thats another thing I have to stay away from!

 

[Talking Hands]

Unfortunately anyone with an allergy must be careful no matter where they go. Went to Cracker Barrel yesterday and informed the waiter I am allergic to beef, dairy, shellfish and mango. Ordered my meal which included hash browns. Low and behold they had cheese in them. I asked did they have cheese? Yes. Told him to take them back. Oh just leave them on the plate and eat the rest and I'll get you some without cheese. I don't think so. Asked for grits instead and a clean plate with NO DAIRY on it. Seems like there are many clueless waitstaff at restaurants.
Applebee's don't bother with. Everything is prepackaged and they cannot adapt things to fit your needs. They are hopeless.

 

[mechurchlady]

My immune system is on vacation because of another wheat reaction. Getting pink eye and sores in my nose which is inflamed and hurts big time plus nose bleeds and sores in my nose. My system is shot and I think it is from a restaurant.

I stood there and watched as the girl at a burger stand that normally is safe did the unthinkable. She put our fries with mom's burger. I told the girls I wanted the burgers in seperate bags as well as the fries. She took them out of burger bag and handed me the same fries in the their own bag. Usually they are very good about doing orders but not this time and I told her I wanted fresh french fries.

I am getting scared to eat because I do not know the source of the contamination because I do not even have an estimate on when it happened. I have not had a reaction like this in months. They just do not get it.

Pizza Hut
http://www.pizzahut.com/files/pdf/UPDATED ALLERGEN LIST 11 08 v2.pdf
Two of the pastas are listed for tree nuts because they are made in the same factory or equipment as those that have tree nutsbut nothing else.

Yum Foods owns Pizza Hut, Long John Silver, A & W, and Taco Bell.
http://www.yum.com/company/nutrition.asp
Choose from the drop down menu in the upper right.
Yeah those are the folks whose employees got me sick from a wheat filled food because they did not know better.

 

[Selket]

Others have given good advice. Many chain restaurants can be safe but sometimes an individual restaurant (like the one near you) is great while one the next city over is horrible.

As for Pizza Hut - there was a lot of discussion about it over on the peanut allergy board at another site and some think it is just CYA labeling - others not. I think it is just CYA in this case and we still eat Pizza Hut pizza without problems (and my son is touch allergic to peanut and allergic to tree nuts too). Sometimes after calling a company that has a "manufactured in a facility that...." warning you find out that they wash and test the lines. It is all a comfort factor and it takes a long time to get a feel for what is safe and what is risky.

Hang in there!

 

[hildarumpole]

Thanks for posting the link to the updated Pizza Hut allergen info. I see the sauce no longer has a nut warning. I hadn't bothered checking it recently. We wrote Pizza Hut off a couple years ago, especially after I contacted them about the nut warning and they weren't very helpful or sympathetic. Now there's a shellfish warning on the sauce, so we can't eat there anyway. Oh well. Our local pizzaria is much better.

 

[mechurchlady]

http://www.pizzahut.com/Files/PDF/ph_ingredients.pdf
That is a list of their ingredients and I do not understand how tomato sauce could be cross contaminated or even made in a factory with wheat and shellfish. Do they make Tuna Sauce? Call them to find out as I personally do not understand the labelling.

Do not read the ingredients if you shock easily, lol. They are another site that lists modified food starch in their cheese but not the source of the food starch which can come from wheat, corn, or other plants. Many of their foods have soy but they do not even have a soy alert. They citric acid, corn, wheat, soy, dairy, egg, cocoa powder as well as unidentified and potential allergens like modified food starch, cellulose, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, vegetable mono and diglycerides, artificial flavor, dextrose, natural and artificial flavors, maltodextrin, spices, vegetable oil, flavors, annatto extract color, garden herb croutons, caramel color, and artificial
butter flavor.

The ultimate hidden allergen that you would never think would be there has to be in the taco bean sauce which has cocoa powder [processed with alkali]. Who puts chocolate or cocoa in beans? Mole is a popular hispanic dish with chocolate related stuff but bean sauce, go figure. The meatballs contain romano cheese [(made from sheep milk, cheese culture, salt, rennet). Yep there is sheep, soy, dairy, wheat and corn in you meatballs. The white sauce also contains carob beans.

That was apparently made in 2006 but is an idea of how fast food places make food scary aint it.

 

[kaffinito]

Lots of great advice here. I stick with fast food mostly, stuff I know is safe so I don't have to worry about a reaction. I found out from Chef Eugene at Boma last summer that a lot of baked goods are made with almond paste or almond flour, and that unless the types of flour are listed on ingredients sheets, stay away from them!

Most chain restaurants are clueless, so I rarely eat out at them. I do eat out at local diners that don't have nuts in any of their dishes. I've found that most of the smaller ones will listen and can tell you what they have in which dishes.

Makes me miss WDW and their food allergy policy every time I think about going out to eat.

 

[travelingirlie]

Well, me and my daughter are both allergic to treenuts and peanuts. You should really talk to your doctor about how bad your son's allergy is. The traces in the tomato sauce are most likely very very minimal. I know that traces do not bother me, but if I eat the nut its self, then I have a bad reaction (or anything cross contaminated) As for my daughter, traces do bother her, but not as bad as the actual nut. No epi-pen if its traces, she just gets very sick. So if I were you, I would speak to your doctor about places to eat and how serious his allergy really is.
BTW. Is he allergic to peanuts or treenuts??