EpiPen and EpiPen Jr Auto-Injector – Important Safety Information on Correct Usage – For the Public

It has been a while since I’ve updated this site.

Sorry!

This announcement is an important one for anyone that has an auto-injector.

There have been some cases of people not understanding quite how to remove the cap or handle the EPI-Pen properly resulting in accidents.

Subject: Important Safety Information on the Correct Use of EpiPen® and EpiPen® Jr Auto-Injector

Pfizer Canada Inc. (distributor of EpiPen for Dey Pharma, L.P.) in collaboration with Health Canada would like to remind patients of the correct method to remove the blue safety cap and of the importance of following the instructions for use of EpiPen (0.3 mg epinephrine auto-injector) and EpiPen Jr (0.15 mg epinephrine auto-injector).  It has recently come to our attention that removal of the blue safety cap the wrong way by pulling it sideways or bending and twisting it off may prevent the device from working properly and potentially result in failure to deliver the drug.

Read on for the full advisory.

Food allergies: fact or fad? – Editorial – The Cape Breton Post

Food allergies: fact or fad?

As a father of a food-allergic child I know that this FACT is not a FAD.

This article has good insight and urges us all to think rationally when others around us are doubting our family’s health concerns.

A new British study on nut-allergy sufferers found that “parents are routinely made to feel by friends and even family that their child’s nut allergy is a ‘frivolous and self indulgent fad invented and maintained by attention-seeking people.’”

via Food allergies: fact or fad? – Editorial – The Cape Breton Post.

Enjoy Life Shows Support For Food Allergy Community | Press Releases @ Your-Story.org

A big shout out to Enjoy Life!

Our family has enjoyed a few of their products and appreciate the work they do to provide tasty allergic aware foods (can a food be aware?).

Enjoy Life Shows Support For Food Allergy Community By Becoming Gold Level Sponsor Of The Kids With Food Allergies FoundationAugust 11, 2011 | Author: EnjoyLifeFoods | Posted in Food & Drink0inShareAugust 10, 2011 Chicago – Enjoy Life Foods, the leading allergen-friendly brand in the Supermarket and Natural Foods stores, has broadened its partnership with the Kids With Food Allergies Foundation, a leading resource site and organization for families who struggle with the everyday challenges of food allergies. By elevating itself to a Gold Level Sponsor, Enjoy Life will support a variety of KFA’s initiatives, as well as provide an opportunity for new KFA members to receive valuable coupons for Enjoy Life’s products, all of which are free of the 8 common allergens.

via Enjoy Life Shows Support For Food Allergy Community By Becoming Gold Level Sponsor Of The Kids With Food Allergies Foundation | Press Releases @ Your-Story.org.

CTV British Columbia – Misreading nut labels a potentially deadly mistake – CTV News

Even companies with the right intentions are taking the crossed-out peanut to mean they can include nuts in thier ingredients.

Be vigilant when reading labels!

A registered nurse is sounding the nut allergy alarm over potentially confusing allergy labels on packaged foods.

While the red circle with a line through it is an internationally recognized symbol for ‘no,’ the symbol with a line through a peanut doesn’t necessarily mean no nuts.

Rob Cimaglia, who has a severe allergy to tree nuts, was shocked to discover that a package of granola bars he purchased at IGA had the no-nut symbol on the front, but contained almonds in the ingredient list

 

Read on at CTV British Columbia – Misreading nut labels a potentially deadly mistake – CTV News.

CBC News – Stricter food label rules target allergens

HUGE Win for the Canadian Food Allergic Population

Food manufacturers have 18 months to adhere to tighter rules dealing with the labelling of food allergens, Health Canada announced Monday.

The amended rules would target food allergens, gluten sources and sulphites, which will have to be explicitly identified on packaging.Manufacturers will be required to list what type of allergens, gluten sources or sulphites are present in a product or in any of the ingredients used to make that product.

For example, a food product that lists “spice” or “seasoning” as an ingredient would have to specify whether the ingredient contains allergenic substances.

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said Monday the new labelling requirements do not include beer and wine, which are being dealt with separately, because the government needed to move on food now.

The revised rules were first introduced in 2008 by then-health minister Tony Clement.

Most of the new regulations were published officially Monday in the Canada Gazette, the government publication that lists all laws and Orders-in-Council.

Read the full article via CBC News – Politics – Stricter food label rules target allergens.

Win an autographed copy of one of Kyle Dine’s CDs!

Now that you all know about Kyle Dine you will be happy to hear that I have a copy of each of Kyle Dine’s albums

Food Allergies Rock, his newest release

and You Must Be Nuts

BOTH AUTOGRAPHED AND AVAILABLE TO BE WON!!!

To win one (it will be a random draw for each) all you have to do is comment here with a piece of info about Kyle that you find on his website or on his Facebook page! While you’re on his Facebook page make sure you Like it!!!

With hits like Food Allergies Rock, My Epineph-Friend, Epiman, The Doghouse and The Birthday Party, these albums should be in everyone’s collection! If you don’t win be sure to order one or both!

The contest will run until the end of the day on March 1st so be sure to post! One post per person please. Multiple comments will only be counted once. I will do a random draw on or around the 2nd of March and contact the winners around the same time.

Good luck and spread the news of the contest!!!

Kyle Dine Rocks!

Last month, we had the great pleasure of seeing Kyle Dine in concert! Kyle Dine is a musician who records and performs children’s music about food allergies. His songs contain positive messages on living with and safely managing one’s food allergies, and his concerts are educational, uplifting, and a lot of fun. We had the opportunity to ask a few questions of this gifted songwriter.

Food Allergies Rock - Kyle Dine

Kyle’s newest album, Food Allergies Rock, is available for sale on his website. Follow this link to get one now!

Stay tuned for an exciting chance to win a copy of his newest album right here at Eat Nut Free!

WestJet Steps Up to the Mike | Allergic Living

By: Gwen Smith, Allergic Living Editor

Hallelujah, we’ve been heard. If you ask a flight attendant on WestJet, Canada’s second largest airline, she or he will step to the microphone and ask fellow passengers to please not pull out nut or peanut snacks. The attendant will briefly explain that this is because there is a person onboard with serious allergies.

via WestJet Steps Up to the Mike | Allergic Living.

Of course this is HUGE news for the food allergic traveller our there. WestJet knows how to deal with the public, unlike Air Canada that gives you a buffer zone, IF you have filled in the required  form from your doctor and faxed to the medical desk and a call to Reservations to book the zone. At least they have something.

Allergic Living – Quaker facility closed. Boy goes home :)

Allergic Living has reported that after the packaging error that occurred last week at the Quaker Canada facility the facility has been closed pending an internal investigation and that the boy that was affected by an allergic reaction has gone home.

We’re happy for the good news about the boy and hope that Quaker gets to the bottom of this soon!

Read the article here…

From the Quaker website

IMPORTANT PRODUCT NOTICE

The health and safety of our consumers is our highest priority. Accordingly, Quaker Canada has initiated a voluntary recall of our 14 count Quaker Chewy Granola Bars Value Pack cartons that may have been mis-labeled. No other packages of Quaker bars or Quaker products are affected.

Quaker Canada is taking this action out of an abundance of caution because the outside packaging erroneously states that the boxes should contain Chewy Chocolate Chip and Chewy S’mores bars, both of which are made in a peanut-free facility. The individually-wrapped bars are clearly and accurately labeled.

Consumers who have purchased a 14 count Quaker Chewy Granola Bars Value Pack carton with a UPC Bar Code ending in 10742 should inspect the contents of the carton to ensure it contains the correct product (Chewy Chocolate Chip and Chewy S’mores bars). If the carton contains Dipps Chocolate Chip and Dipps Caramel Nut bars and a consumer has a peanut or tree nut allergy, they should return it to the retailer where it was purchased for a refund.

No other packages of Quaker bars or Quaker products are affected.

There is NO health risk associated with handling the mis-labeled product for disposal, however this product should not be consumed by those in a peanut or tree nut-allergic household. The company is working closely with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Anaphylaxis Canada to notify the public.

Consumers with questions may contact us by calling the toll-free hotline at 1-800-267-6287.

NoTrickTreats.com Helps Children with Restricted Diets Enjoy Halloween

Jon sent us news of a new service website on the web that aims to help kids find safe homes to Trick or Treat at. I’ve checked it out and it’s really well done and easy to follow. All we need now is for EVERYONE to use it!

Check out this news release and get your home listed too! I did and I hope it helps.

Although many American children list Halloween as their favorite holiday, this is less often the case when – due to a dietary restriction – a child can’t enjoy the same candy as everyone else. But a new website is looking to change that.
Read the rest of this entry »

Another October comes around

And it’s time to break out the old Halloween post: http://eatnutfree.com/2008/10/a-nut-free-halloween/

I posted that 2 years ago and it still holds true.

Given that there are things you can do to allow your child to still enjoy a night out gathering treats, will you be letting the little one visit your neighbours?

I know my neighbours, but I also know I have alot of empty-nesters from an age between me and my parents, and some around my parents. Do they know about food allergies enough to not have the container of Reeses Peanutbutter cups at the door? We are still undecided if our’s will be making the rounds.

What about you?

“anaphylaxis to airborne food particles is very rare”: Dr Ham Pong

For anyone who did not know this, it’s great to hear this from a prominent artillerist.

EEEK!

The opening paragraph tells us:

You can be assured that anaphylaxis to airborne food particles is very rare. An allergic reaction to food will not occur because someone is eating it in a classroom or vicinity of the allergic person. The main reason for advising that the allergenic food not be brought into a classroom is the potential for an allergic child to accidentally ingest some by sharing food. Secondary reasons (less likely to cause anaphylaxis because of the smaller quantities involved) are cross-contamination of desks, toys etc.

He goes on to tell us that the smell of peanuts in the air does not come from the peanut protein.  Note, though, that peanut dust in the air can cause a reaction. Like if a room full of people opened packages of peanuts at the same time.

Give the Allergic Living article a read to set your mind at ease, or at least part of your mind

Applebee’s won’t bend

I was contacted today by Paul about a series of posts that have been gathering attention on his blog at Allergy Eats.

This is not so much an attack at Applebee’s but hopefully someting that will bring attention to what the food-allergic community can potentially bring to a food chain. Applebee’s is a good starting point, being the largest casual food chain in America, and the largest food chain in America that does not cater to the food allergic.

What? How can someone so engrained in the U.S. be so standoffish? Apparently they don’t seem to care enough to provide Paul with a suitable answer. Not enough to give him a few minutes of time with an Operations Officer to discuss what they are missing out on. Were no’t just talking about the charming people who will not eat there now, were talking about the MILLIONS of dollars per year that they could be filling thier coffers with.

REad on to hear what Paul has to say, then send an email to the Applebee’s office and tell them to get off thier duff and do something about it.

Again, this should not just apply to Applebee’s. Insert the name of any restaurant, chain or not, that is not noticing the growing throngs of people who might like to eat there if only your staff were aware of how to manage our plates. It’s not really that difficult, it just takes awareness.

Al little piece of what Paul has to say:

The saga started on August 17 when we posted an AllergyEats Blog entry entitled “Guest post – Applebee’s disappoints!,” which detailed the story of one disappointing customer experience.  This opened up a flood of comments on our blog and Facebook page.  The posts showed that a tremendous number of food-allergic diners have had negative experiences at Applebee’s.  Given this response, and seeing that they had a poor AllergyEats allergy-friendliness rating (2.3 on a scale of 1 to 5), I decided to call and allow them to address the issue.

READ ON, it’s a really good read.

Keeps Me Safe keeps me safe with hand made bracelets

I love my new hand-made Medical Alert bracelet from Keeps Me Safe.

The tag is a solid metal, I assume steel, with an embossed universal blue medical symbol on the outer side. The under-side is embossed with the info I submitted and it fills the whole underside with the shorter of the 2 lines using a larger font. This is good as it makes it easy to read. The only suggestion I have for Keeps Me Safe is to either use a wider font (bold for example) or a deeper embossing. The reason is the font has such a thin line that unless angled just right it is hard to read. When speed is of utmost importance in an emergency you don’t want to be fumbling trying to read the test on a tag.

With the selection of bracelets available I think the Keeps Me Safe collection will suit any event or occasion from formal to casual. The tags come off and are interchangeable so you can have one tag and many bracelets to suit wherever you go and whatever you wear.

CBC News – What teachers and parents should know about severe food allergies

What teachers and parents should know about severe food allergies

This article by Gwen Smith of Allergic Living Magazine gives an important message for everyone with children in the school. Whether you are a parent of an allergic child, a parent with a child attending the school with allergic children, or a teacher at that school, you need to read this article.

It goes through many important points to consider for snacks and lunches. Outlines a few facts and dangers associated with food allergies and how we can all get along together if the allergic and non-allergic make a few adjustments.

This is a Canadian site, but these apply to wherever you are.

via CBC News – Canada – What teachers and parents should know about severe food allergies.