With Easter quickly approaching, chocolate surrounds us! Easter can also be fear-provoking for parents and others with life-threatening food allergies. Easter tends to particularly like peanut butter, too.
Hershey's is allergy-conscious and a trustworthy source of allergen labeling. On their web site, they have a section that explains an 'adverse reaction'.
The following is their stand on handling allergens:
"How does The Hershey Company manage allergies?
The Hershey Company strives to provide its consumers with accurate, reliable ingredient statements upon which consumers can make their purchase decision. The Hershey Company has an Allergy Task Force that ensures that the ingredient statements are always accurate, and that any allergen statements placed on the label is understandable."
"Do your products share plants & equipment?
We take food allergies very seriously at Hershey and have strict procedures in place to prevent crossover of allergens into other products that do not contain the allergen. In instances where we have a concern about possible crossover by an allergen we take the added precaution of including an allergy information statement on the label."
Enjoy Life Food has done it again! They have created a "milk" chocolate bar that is free of ALL common allergens. It is made with rice milk. They have 3 delicious choices: cripsy rice bar, dark chocolate, and milk bar. They are taste tested by my 5-year-old and they pass with 2 thumbs WAY up. He loves them and eats them daily. 
My son had an anaphylactic reaction to wheat when he was around 18 months old. He has been on a strict elimination diet since he was diagnosed with multiple food allergies at 7 months of age. As we follow his blood work RAST testing every 6 months to yearly, we have watched his "classes" go down. As his classes go down, we test him to see if some of the allergens have been outgrown. He has outgrown 3 so far - soy, oats, and corn. Well, his blood work for soy was still a class 2 but his oral challenge went well and he tolerates soy just fine now! You can actually have a + skin test even after an allergy is outgrown - there is no black and white with food allergies. His wheat RAST is still a class 2 but his recent skin test was NEGATIVE! He is now 5 years old. So, we will be doing another oral challenge. So, keep the faith - things do get better!
With my son's newfound love of soy (he passed his oral challenge - yay!!), we have a new world with unchartered territory in front of us! We ventured out to Whole Foods and spent an obscene amount of money on soy products. This is one of the ones that he loved. His allergies that remain are wheat, milk, egg, peanut, oat, and green pea. 
Dermatographism
These are the pancakes that I made this morning - I apologize for the non-decorative plate!
Food Allergy Aid is giving away a copy of "Great Foods Without Worry"! This is a fantastic collection of allergy-free recipes for both adults and children. The copy at my house is on its last leg! 
