The enemy.
As many of you may already know, the Peanut Corporation of America recalled peanut butter on January 13th because of a salmonella outbreak. (Salmonella can cause food poisoning.) As of yesterday, over 600 people were affected by the tainted products. Countless brands have recalled their products, a full list from Fox News can be found here and here.
Luckily (I guess?), I don’t have to worry about accidentally consuming salmonella. I am allergic to all nuts (including peanut butter), in addition to all tree fruit. So yes, I am one of those people who have to ask the waitress at the Cheesecake Factory which of the 523 desserts do NOT contain nuts. (The answer is one.) I’m not deathly allergic, but I still steer clear of those foods and carry an EpiPen with me (at all times! if my mom is reading this.)
Unfortunately, I cannot slice up an banana and mix it with some granola & peanuts, a healthy recipe mentioned in my last post. I also stay away from:
- walnuts
- apples
- cherries
- peaches
- pineapples
- melon (for example, cantalope & honeydew)
So I am limited to oranges & grapes. But I saw some good news on the glorious internet on Friday: “Cure for killer nut allergies moves a step closer.” Across the big pond in the UK, doctors at a Cambridge hospital are experimenting with building up a tolerance in children by giving them a very small dosage (5 mg) of peanut flour. Eventually they were able to have 880mg (same as 5 peanuts).
This is great news for kids who immediately go into anaphylactic shock (their throat closes up) when the smallest amount of nuts are accidentally eaten. Those are the poor kids who can’t even eat a candy bar with a wrapper that says something along the lines of “this product was made in a factory that makes peanut products, beware!”
