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.

Karen over at Avoiding Milk Protein has a great list of gear for allergy awareness and gifts over the holiday

List of allergy gear companies in time for Christmas, from allergy t-shirts to magnets. Many of these companies also offer gift certificates.

Avoiding Milk Blog: Allergy Gear for Christmas.

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.

This fall, for the first time, NoTrickTreats.com will let children and their parents make a custom trick-or-treating map of their area, showing the homes that will be giving out Halloween treats that they can enjoy. Homes and business that will be serving specialty candy can mark themselves on the map, indicating whether their treats will be suitable for vegan, nut-free, diabetic, organic, kosher, gluten-free, or raw diets.

“There’s no denying that Halloween is a blast”, says Jon Zornow – the site’s creator, “but it’s a candy-centric holiday, and it leaves a lot of kids feeling excluded.” Zornow, who is vegan, says he was inspired to create the site when he realized that if he had been vegan growing up, he would probably hate Halloween – and that vegan kids weren’t the only ones missing out.

The site, NoTrickTreats.com, lets you find your neighborhood and search for homes by food specialty. It’s easy to use and user-friendly for trick-or-treaters of all ages and computer skills. Although it has only been online for a few days, Zornow says has been humbled by the positive response. “I’ve heard from numerous parents and bloggers who are excited to search and share their Halloween information. It feels good to be part of something that is helping the whole community.”

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?

• How do you describe your allergies to a waiter or chef?
• Are you sure you covered everything?
• After he leaves to go place your order, did you forget to tell him one other thing about what you can not eat?
• What if the waiter forgets to mention something to the kitchen or says the wrong thing?
• What happens if you are travelling? Do you know how to describe your allergies to someone in their native language?

Delicardo Foodcards can help you get through these situations. The Delicardo Foodcard contains all the information a food preparation professional could need. It lists the food you can and can not eat. It even tells them where these allergic reaction-inducing ingredients can be most commonly found.

Available in English, German and Spanish (they are currently working on a French version as well as other languages) you can order them specially for the vacation you are about to take.

The cards are available for just about any allergy or sensitivity out there:

• Nuts
• Celery
• Egg
• Fish
• Histamine
• Milk
• Seafood
• Soya
• And More!

Delicardo Foodcards are developed with help from nutrition professionals and chefs to give as accurate a description as possible. The design is made to be easy to read. There is an area for you to add your own notes or for waiters to add theirs.

Each individual allergy can be included on a card, or you can customize your cards to include as many allergies as you want to make a combination card. Check out the Configurator here. In the Configurator you can also add your own notes if there are specific foods you want listed that are not included by default. You can also include information about medication.

The cards are currently available through the Delicardo website, and pricing for packages of 10 or 50 cards is in Euros. We at Eat Nut Free have inquired if there will be a North American distributor, and we should have news about that in the near future.

Together with Delicardo we will be hosting a give-away of a 10-pack of cards. Depending on the response we may give away more! Stay tuned for details of the contest within the next couple of weeks.

Halloween is a fun time and can be for all kids.

Last year I posted my 6 Steps to a safer Halloween. They still apply, so apply them to your Halloween this year.

Remember, point number 1; Don’t put the Epipen inside the costume! It may seem obvious, but some kids/parents may think the costume dosen’t look as good with a Epi-belt around the waist.

Find a way to make it look good. If the costume is a pirate, put the Epipen on the pirate’s belt in a black sack. Make a belt the same color as the costume so it blends in. There are ways to make it work.

If you are going to include the Epipen into the costume, how are you doing it? Leave us a comment.