Track Sixteen: Halloween and Food Allergies

Any holiday with food is a bit of a minefield for our family, but none so much as Halloween. It is rife with interesting things like the fact that most candy has Eli’s allergens, different sizes of candy have different ingredients, there can be little or no label on some small candies, and more! One of the only times Eli has ingested milk and had a reaction was when someone gave him a bag of skittles that they had somehow opened, put M&M’s in, and then resealed. Luckily, as soon as he tasted one, he spit it out. His reaction was “minor” with a rash around his mouth and all over his body. At the time, he was only 5 or 6, and I learned my lesson. 

From that point on we made sure to sit with him and teach him to look and smell before he eats, even if the food is supposed to be safe and we’ve label checked it. I’ve been told that after going through this program, many patients and their families have to go through some counseling to learn to trust food again, mostly because of situations like this one where we trusted the label and were wrong.

Interesting candy facts you may not know:

1. Regular sized Laffy Taffy doesn’t have Eli’s allergens. However, the fun size, Halloween one, has egg. 
2. Even if Eli wasn’t allergic to milk, most chocolate is cross contaminated with tree nuts (his other allergen). 
3. Hi chews and Nerds have different formulations based on where they are manufactured, some are safe and some have Eli’s allergens. We generally just avoid these and eat candy that doesn’t have different formulations.
4. Labeling laws only require that manufacturers disclose what is in the food, not what it may have come into contact with. Those statements are voluntary and mean different things from different companies (you can call companies and ask, and we have!).

I know that so many of you are kind and wonderful people and you may wonder how you can include kids like Eli and help them feel safe. There are a few ways! 

1. Provide little toys, in a separate bowl, for kids to take (be sure not to use playdoh (wheat) or latex based items if at all possible)
2. While no one candy leaves out every allergen, there are a few brands that rule out at least the top 9 allergens- dumdums, starbursts, skittles, Enjoylife chocolate, and Yumearth candy. Again, in a separate bowl from any “normal” candy.

If you choose to participate in this way, you can put out a teal pumpkin that signals to food allergy families that you have something for them! It’s called the Teal Pumpkin Project and we participate every year.