Is that 0.6% based on self-reporting, or actual medical diagnosis? There are a lot of kids whose parents say they’re allergic to something, but who aren’t.
I’ve got a suspicion that the reputation of airborne peanut allergies stems from the poor kids having some other allergy that goes undiagnosed. Parent makes kid a peanut butter sandwich, kid gets sick. So parent switches to a baloney sandwich the next day, and the kid still gets sick, so the parent figures that the baloney must have come in contact with peanuts. Parent throws out contents of fridge, scrubs down all surfaces, and buys new baloney and bread from certified nut-free stores, and kid still gets sick. Parent figures that the kid must be getting peanut fumes from other kids in the lunchroom, etc. Meanwhile the kid’s actually allergic to wheat.
I’m sure that the outside of a peanut container will have less peanut proteins on it than a peanut buttery cart handle. Have you seen small children eat? Because it wouldn’t be uncommon for one to leave visible peanut butter and jelly marks on things after a PB&J. I’m not talking about the possibility of trace amounts of peanut dust that might remain on the outside of a peanut butter jar or on washed hands.
There’s no easy way to prevent drool or a leaky diaper. I’m not going on that tangent.
This. Remember, we’re talking about people for whom exposure to trace amounts of peanut residue can be fatal. Wiping your kid’s hands and face with a wet washcloth isn’t going to ensure that they’re below the threshold for hazardous levels of peanut contamination.
In fact, in addition to scrubbing your kid’s hands and face with Ajax and steel wool, you better blast his mouth out with a pressure washer before leaving home. If you don’t, and your kid puts his finger in his peanut-buttery mouth and then on the shopping cart, he’s a public menace, and you are morally culpable in the death of any peanut-sensitive kid who later comes into contact with that cart.
To be perfectly fair, in most bars and restaurants that forbid indoor smoking ; us nicotine hounds tend to congregate right outside the front door (especially in the winter) because we’re going right back in in 2 minutes and fuck walking a couple steps away twice.
(Of course, fuck you if you actively bitch at a smoker about having to stand the 'orrible ordeal of maybe walking into a rapidly disappearing cloud of smoke as you go in the restaurant, you horrible entitled twat)
[SIZE=2][SIZE=3]That being said, and to get back on topic, I fail to see how a child eating a PB&J, even as messily as only an overactive kid can, could ever trigger an allergic reaction. I know even traces swallowed can be enough, but are you going to lick the kid ? The cart ? The floor where he’s going to drop the sammy because of course he will ? No ? Then shut the fuck up and enjoy the rest of your day, you absolute fucking drama queen.
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I believe the (least insane) assumption is that the cart will subsequently be occupied by a different small child, this one allergic, who will lick the cart, and/or lick their fingers after playing with the gigantic visible globs of leftover food left on the cart.
But if your kid is allergic to peanuts and you know it, you’re possibly not going to park it in the cart covered in peanut butter smears. In fact, I would humbly suggest you not use that cart even if your kid is not allergic to peanuts, and even if you have no kid with you because that’s fucking disgusting.
Also if your kid routinely licks shopping carts, you have bigger problems on your hands than their allergies.
Nobody seeks out a cart covered in food, but hasn’t everyone touched something - a cart handle, a doorknob, a counter top and ended up accidentally touching something sticky or wet that they didn’t notice at first glance?
Our local Festival Foods chain has an onsite babysitter (certain hours) in a locked room near the store entrance to occupy the little ones (age restrictions.) There are cameras in it that connect to monitors throughout the store so anxious parents can check up on their little angels. Kids and parents get color coded and numbered matching wristbands.
As far as the article in the OP,
smearing peanut butter on the handle for the next child to ingest would be inoculating those not allergic against the development of the allergy. Save them from a lifetime of hazards. That said, per my wife, most 4yo are too large to sit in the seat and she was more likely sitting in the basket. That age, sandwich eating is a practiced art and not too much is wasted. Also don’t think the PB is thick enough to leave gobs of it behind.
My employer urges us to not bring allergens into the plant, not even the break room. We produce raw food and they want no unregulated hazards to possibly cross contaminate the product line.
Unless the people in the store are Zombies or Cannibals and intend on eating the ladies kid
How the hell does that kid eating a sandwich have any effect on them?
I have a strong suspicion that this is the case quite often, and that adults not only tend to exaggerate the issues with their child, but also themselves.
I have a question: is a direct allergy to drinking milk as we know it to be different somehow from consuming baked goods made with milk, eating cheese and other products derived from it from it…if this is the case, what is substantially the difference between the products that makes the milk so allergenic in and of itself as opposed to the other “Milk format based” foods?
Which is why when this state banned indoor public smoking, also stipulated it was also disallowed within 20-feet of the door. When there are five or six nicotine addicts in a cluster, the cloud of smoke isn’t so rapidly disappearing.
I’ll grant the latter in some cases - but even so, come on. You’re passing through, it smells bad for 5 seconds and then it’s over. Get over it. Fuck me, but there are cars and buses blowing gasoline fumes in our faces all day long and nobody gets all prissy or flippant about it.
It’s city living. Other people in the city are going to be doing things that disgust or annoy you on a regular basis. Wear a hat.
I had a student (high school) once who was allergic to peanuts. She went into anaphylactic shock after kissing her boyfriend at lunch. He’d had a granola bar for breakfast. Apparently it contained peanuts or peanut oil. Between the products made with peanuts and those made with equipment that came in contact with peanuts, having a peanut allergy is a bitch.
Yet another associated hassle would be wiping down a cart if your severely peanut-allergic child is apt to lick or touch it (In some people, peanuts don’t have to be ingested to cause a reaction.) Many foods you wouldn’t expect to contain peanuts do, including potato chips (if cooked in peanut oil), chili, all sorts of baked goods, icings, egg rolls, and sauces. It’d be unrealistic to expect all parents shopping with kids to know all the foods that might present a danger to kids with peanut allergies.
Around here, stores also sell bags of these things called “peanuts.” And those bags occasionally aren’t sealed properly and are full of dust and tiny pieces of peanuts.
How often do you think people who have severe peanut allergies go around touching bags of peanuts? You guys are determined to try and argue about peanut dust while quoting a post that has nothing to do with trace quantities of peanut molecules wafting through the air.
I had the same experience and agree that there’s undoubtedly so much peanut residue/molecules on a commercial airliner that it’s nutty to think that a flight ban on consumption would make any difference for a child that purportedly sensitive to peanuts.
If your kid is a messy eater they shouldn’t be allowed to glop up shopping carts, period (and maybe their snacks should be confined to specific eating areas, unless they’re diabetic).
We live in a society increasingly (and irrationally) panicked by not only allergies, but “toxin” exposures of the tiniest and most insignificant sort.
Haven’t I read somewhere that every time we take a breath of air or swallow a mouthful of beer, we consume some of the molecules of peanuts eaten by Leonardo da Vinci ?
^ Can I point out it wasn’t a person with an actual peanut allergy who was getting outraged here, but non-allergic people getting outraged on their behalf?
Speaking as someone who does have a potentially lethal allergy (to tomatoes, not peanuts) I know damn well the rest of the world is not going to give up the allergen I have problems with. In fact, it annoys the hell out of me when others try to take care of me because they have no real knowledge of what the problem is or what is needed to keep me safe, and it’s patronizing as hell.
Most stores provide wipes these days, usually right next to where you pick up the carts.
^ This.
Actually, I usually bring my own snacks for an airplane, that way I don’t have to worry about what the airline is handing out (if they hand out anything at all).
Look, I don’t have kids of my own, but I know that toddlers put everything in their mouths. Snack food is one of the least disgusting things I’ve seen kids try to eat where I work. I’ve had more than one parent apologize for a two or three year old “shoplifting” a banana or candy bar or apple or whatever because the kid recognized and edible and, being a kid, took it and started eating. They also grab toys and any colorful or brightly colored object. For a toddler this is actually perfectly normal behavior. Yes, we need to teach them NOT to do that, but it takes time. Kids are not simply miniature adults. They’re kids.
Also, speaking as store staff, we’d much rather a hungry toddler be given something to eat rather than let the kid shriek and scream, which is a lot more disruptive and annoying to the public. Not to mention other customers who come to us staff and say things like “Can’t you do anything about that crying kid?” Actually, no, we can’t - we’re not the parents of the hellspawn, and young kids cry and scream, sometimes for no explicable reason. The parents can’t leave the kid(s) in the car, they can’t leave them home alone, and if you never take the kids out in public they will never learn to behave in public.
All of this is why the store I work at puts up with kids stealing food, or playing with toys they haven’t bought yet, and so forth - because young kids do these things. The fact most of the parents are willing to pay for said food and damaged goods is a bonus, but we accept some loss from the toddlers because, as I said, toddlers are like that. It’s not malicious, it’s just that they’re toddlers. They’re unformed and ignorant.
^ This.
Toddlers simply are not capable of the self-control we expect of adults. Sure, they can learn and must be taught, but it takes time and a lot of repetition. Babies cry when they’re hungry not to annoy you or misbehave but because it’s the only way to have to communicate their need.
I applaud parents who, going through the checkout, make a point of handing me an empty container or wrapper and telling the kid “now we have to pay for what you ate” because that, too, is part of training a toddler to be a member of society. It’s actually a good thing when a four year old says “I’m hungry!”, holds up something so I can scan it, then looks to mom or dad to make sure it’s OK to eat it.
^ Yes. Been there, done that. I don’t often accept dinner invitations because of that. Last event for me was Halloween 1995. Got to spend most of the holiday in the Rockford, Illinois ER.
Yes. And it makes life even more difficult for those who really do have severe problems because they aren’t taken seriously, which can lead to tragedy.
If someone is *allergic *to milk they’re going to be allergic to any milk-containing product that contains any sort of milk protein. If someone is lactose intolerant, meaning they can’t digest a component of milk, then they may find milk itself intolerable but be OK with, say kefir or yogurt or some cheeses where bacteria have broken down and digested those offending components. The confusion comes in because far too many people don’t know the difference between “allergy” and “lactose intolerance”.
no, that’s not what we’re arguing. we’re arguing that it’s dumb for someone to raise hell about a kid eating a PB&J sandwich in a place where various peanut products are sold. You’re the one who started nitpicking about how peanut butter is in “sealed containers.” I was pointing out that there are other things sold in a grocery store containing peanuts which aren’t in “sealed containers.”