new pb cheerios

[Mfamom]

I just got an email about new peanut butter cheerios.  The sender was concerned as the actual cheerio apparently looks exactly like a regular vheerio.  I dont know what this might change from a cross contact standpoint.  Please dont take my cheerios !!  ill try to look into ot more.  Posting on phone

[twinturbo]

Multi Grain Cheerios Peanut Butter contains peanuts. Cheerios has a commitment to allergen management. We can say with complete confidence that Multi Grain Cheerios Peanut Butter will not cross-contaminate other Cheerios varieties.

As always, if you're concerned about allergies, we highly recommend that you always consult the allergen listing and the ingredient label on any product you may consume.

^That's from cheerios.com. Define "complete confidence" here. Since DS2, who I will dub turbo2, is so highly allergic to grains we treat Cheerios like napalm anyhow but adding pb to that mix multiplied by endless toddlers munching on the move. Not pretty.

[MandCmama]

Just saw them in my local Weis 

[Momcat]

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/lifestyle/2012/01/new-peanut-butter-cheerios-worry-parents-of-allergic-kids/

An interview with Gina Clowes.

Includes this statement:

"Dr. Wesley Burks, a leading expert in food allergens at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said that while parents should take precautions to ensure their children don't eat foods they're allergic to, it's important to note that life-threatening allergic reactions don't happen as a result of smelling, touching or being in the same room with the food in question.
"For a child to have truly life-threatening, life-ending reaction, they have to ingest the food," he said. The idea that other forms of food contact could lead to death, Burks said, is a common misconception among parents."

Comments?

[Jessica]

My concern was never about smelling or touching but touching and later touching her mouth. Kids are always putting their hands near their face so touching and then touching the mouth/nose worried me. I worry somewhat less but at 16 I have still caught dd picking at her lips or whatever.

[CMdeux]

Yes.  With all due respect to Dr. Burks, "internal exposure" is what counts.

NOT "ingestion" per se.

It's an oversimplification, basically.  It's also an oversimplification that is valid for probably 95-99% of people with a LTFA, and maybe he figures that the people in that other minority % will figure it out without him scaring the others unecessarily.

Then again, there are people who are really and truly allergic to peanuts but have such high thresholds (ordinarily) that regular M&M's, bakery goods, etc. are all fine. 

It's not one-size-fits-most when it's your child's life on the line, unfortunately.   

[twinturbo]

If the big minds of food anaphylaxis truly believed that there is no danger from others consuming an allergen they would not hang multiple prominent signs in their waiting areas to not consume food for the safety of patients with food allergies. Maybe in the Duke waiting room you can eat 12 pack of Reece's while you're waiting, I don't know but at Sinai and our local office it's, wait for it... food bans.

[PurpleCat]

Since Cheerios are a favorite snack for the young set, I can not believe that General Mills is unwilling to make the new peanut butter ones look different in some way.  They are carried in plastic dishes, plastic bags, cups, etc.... never in their original packaging.  This is very scary for parents who have young children with peanut allergy.

[MandCmama]

Since Cheerios are a favorite snack for the young set, I can not believe that General Mills is unwilling to make the new peanut butter ones look different in some way.  They are carried in plastic dishes, plastic bags, cups, etc.... never in their original packaging.  This is very scary for parents who have young children with peanut allergy.

Yes. This. My son dropped a cheerio on my pediatrician's floor once.  I was horrified when the dr. stepped on it, turning it to dust.  He said "Oh my! Dont worry about that! We sweep up enough Cherrios at the end of the day around here to supply a small village!"

[hedgehog]

That was my thought, too.  Not that it affects us much in that way--DS is 13, so his peers don't carry around Cheerios anymore.  And he's unlikely to touch any stray Cheerios in public.  But I still worry about the younger set.  AS a preschooler, he would definitely have picked up stray Cheerios off the floor or wherever else they were laying around.

[YouKnowWho]

Apparently my toddler is supposed to know that those previously safe rings that he spies on the floor in a play area are no longer safe.  And that I should watch my child like a hawk or never leave the house.

I have no issue per se with the peanut butter cheerios.  I do take issue with the fact that they look so similar.  But then again, it's not like they don't have other nutty varieties so maybe I am fighting the wrong fight.

Okay, here is what I take issue with - people who don't clean up after their messy toddlers and feed them in places that they should not be feeding them. 

[maeve]

Okay, here is what I take issue with - people who don't clean up after their messy toddlers and feed them in places that they should not be feeding them. 

That is what I most take issue with.  Because it's not just PB Cheerios that people leave smashed in places, I've found it's often those cheese/peanut butter crackers.  Those smeared and smushed in our local Gymboree store were most likely the culprit of at least one of DD's contact reactions at our local mall.

I'd perhaps even change it to just people feeling they can eat anywhere at anytime and not clean up after themselves.

[CMdeux]

Amen to that sentiment.

[Jessica]

It seems like every time we go to church there are at least a couple of toddlers near us that have a bag of cheerios. They get them all over the place too. Now I'll always wonder if they're pb cheerios.

[my3guys]

A friend stopped me in the store today because she heard "allergy families are going after GM for their new cheerios".  She found that unreasonable...why were they singling out one brand...I explained it was probably because they look exactly the same as multigrain cheerios, and kids may not be able to differentiate.  This friend is an understanding one, I was a bit surprised by her irritation.  I'll have to google what she was referring to...no time now.