Shared lines stuff (overwhelmed, need advice)

[sbgrace]

Caleb had an anaphylactic reaction to nuts. We finally did the allergy testing (skin prick) and he was positive to multiple tree nuts (all except two), a few unrelated foods we already knew because of hives, and sesame. The sesame was a surprise. But his biggest wheels were cashew and pistachio and they share a protein with sesame.

Here's the thing. I've been calling today to see if foods he eats share lines with sesame. All of them share lines with sesame or tree nuts. Even my rice flour and chicken stock share a line with tree nuts. I'm irritated about that because they didn't have any indication of that on the package (I know not required but given the serious nature of nut allergies and that I'm shopping gluten free companies you'd think they'd do manufactured with warnings) His prepared rice foods all share lines with sesame.

I'm entirely overwhelmed. What do I do if he can't eat prepared foods (sesame) and I can't make him anything (tree nut shared lines with the flours I used, the oil I used, etc.)

Also, I'm confused because he's not shown reactions to any of this. He does have loose stools sometimes. Could that be our sole reaction? Is it worth pulling all his food essentially. How do I even do that?
I know that skin prick can have false positives and I'd like to think sesame is. But since it cross reacts with his biggest nuts it probably isn't false? Or is it? I'm just shocked I've never seen anything given the prevalence of sesame cross contamination.

Also, those with cantaloupe allergies (one of his) have a 92% chance of reacting to watermelon, avocado, or banana. He loves bananas. I've never seen a reaction. Do I pull them anyway to see if the come and go loose stools clear up? All his known allergies have been hive reactions. I've not seen hives since our ana episode. Yet he's been eating stuff that has shared lines with his allergens daily as it turns out.

I'm really, really confused.

[kjbrown92]

I'd definitely pull the nuts and sesame (sesame can be just as bad as nuts for some people).

You can make chicken stock easily enough (since I started making my own, I haven't gone back to the boxed stuff). And turkey broth, now that DS can have it, I have to make it, because he can't have carrots, which is in all the canned/boxed stuff.

What rice stuff is made on the same lines? Like Tinkyada pasta?
What flour companies have you called? Bob's Red Mill? Barry's Farm? Arrowhead Mills? Just wondering if there's other ones you haven't thought of. I use light buckwheat flour from Bouchard Family Farms. It's gluten free. I never asked about nuts, but I thought all they did was buckwheat.

Before taking out any maybes (banana), I'd take out all the identified ones (including those on shared lines) to see if that is enough to stop reactions. Also, not that you want it, but it's possible that he's got IgE allergies AND intolerances (causing the loose stools perhaps). You might want to start keeping a food journal to see if there's a pattern (like if you notice it with cantaloupe's cousins).

[mrforbes]

I make a lot of stuff from scratch because DS is allergic to things like garlic and celery so broths and most sauces are out. As for cross contamination we use Bob's Red Mill for our non wheat needs (DS allergic to wheat, rye, buckwheat) they have a dedicated facility for gluten free. DS is allergic to peanuts and all other nuts tested (brazil nuts especially) - we just avoid things like seeds except flax.

There are products and companies that make things specifically allergy free and in allergy free facilities. I've found a lot of products at glutenfreemall .com Many of their things are various types of allergy free and made in dedicated facilities. Did your son eat the nuts that he reacted to? Cross contamination is something that is different for each person I think. I actually just avoid processed foods and make pretty much everything from scratch. I use Bob's Red Mill for baking needs.

You can also get different kitchen equipment for your DS's cooking. We have a different cutting board, different pot and different knife for him. It helps because most contamination or line issues we've had have been mostly from situations like our own kitchen than production of the product.

As for the cantaloupe, my ds is allergic to that and watermelon but LOVES avacados - he eats them often and I actually think they help his eczema. He doesn't like bananas so he doesn't eat them. I agree with kjbrown that unless you see a reaction from those other foods, don't avoid them. You child loves bananas, eats them often and you haven't noticed anything so don't change it. If the loose stools are come and go and you can't identify something it could be any number of rather normal things, if they become chronic or persistant it's something more to look into. Definately start a food journal. As you keep track of things like that you'll be able to see more about cross contamination if it presents itself as an issue or the stool situation.

[sbgrace]

Thank you both soooo much for replying to me. It helps.

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

I'd definitely pull the nuts and sesame (sesame can be just as bad as nuts for some people).
Yes. I feel like I have to pull the sesame. I'm just confused about the shared lines. Example: his rice cakes--lundberg farms--they told me they run sesame at the end of the week, completely clean the machines, run the other flavors then run plain. So would plain be safe? The chicken stock was similar in that they had pretty extensive control procedures but since that is nut I really can't risk it at all.
You can make chicken stock easily enough (since I started making my own, I haven't gone back to the boxed stuff). And turkey broth, now that DS can have it, I have to make it, because he can't have carrots, which is in all the canned/boxed stuff.
Very good to know! I've been looking at recipes and I got overwhelmed. So I'm glad it seems easy to you as I hope I'll feel that way too eventually. I'm looking at recipes today and a whole chicken made three cups of stock in a recipe. Three cups? That isn't much at all. What am I missing?

What rice stuff is made on the same lines? Like Tinkyada pasta? Tinkyada is fine I think; I'm waiting for a call back but it looks like all they produce is rice pasta. All rice crackers or rice cakes of any brands (I believe I checked them all) share lines with sesame. One company made a rice cereal (enjoy life) and they are tree nut and sesame free but it had raisins which he can't do. I'm checking on Erewhon cereals (US mills). I've not heard back yet. The Amy's gluten free stuff we used all are produced with tree nuts. However, it looks like some dishes particularly might not be on the line with nuts. I've got to go through each one with them. It was the flour and chicken stock that floored me. It never occurred to me they might have nuts.

What flour companies have you called? Bob's Red Mill? Barry's Farm? Arrowhead Mills? All these. Bob's is out. Barry's is checking but they have an awful lot of nut products in their lines so I'm not hopeful. I'm waiting on Arrowhead but the other things I checked on with Hain/Celestial companies were very frustrating. They won't give me full information--just that they have allergy control procedures. I need to know if it shares a line! But I'm trying again w/flour.
Just wondering if there's other ones you haven't thought of. I use light buckwheat flour from Bouchard Family Farms. I'll check on that one!
It's gluten free. I never asked about nuts, but I thought all they did was buckwheat.

Before taking out any maybes (banana), I'd take out all the identified ones (including those on shared lines) to see if that is enough to stop reactions. Also, not that you want it, but it's possible that he's got IgE allergies AND intolerances (causing the loose stools perhaps). You might want to start keeping a food journal to see if there's a pattern (like if you notice it with cantaloupe's cousins). Good idea--thank you! There is not a way to accurately test IGG, right? I tried to track it and I couldn't see any pattern in what he ate and the stools. None. But now that I know there may be x-contamination the inconsistency could be caused by "it's there/it's not there" type stuff.

Originally Posted by mrforbes

I make a lot of stuff from scratch because DS is allergic to things like garlic and celery so broths and most sauces are out. As for cross contamination we use Bob's Red Mill for our non wheat needs (DS allergic to wheat, rye, buckwheat) they have a dedicated facility for gluten free. DS is allergic to peanuts and all other nuts tested (brazil nuts especially) - we just avoid things like seeds except flax.
Bob's Red Mill was all my gluten free flours and starches. They told me today their entire gluten free line shares lines/equipment with nuts because they make nut based gluten free flour. I think almond and hazelnut but I may be confusing that with another x-contamination foods we serve. I'm upset because I feel responsible. I thought we were avoiding nuts and I was feeding him them all along without knowing. I feel they should clearly label this because the people using their products are often dealing with allergies.

There are products and companies that make things specifically allergy free and in allergy free facilities. I've found a lot of products at glutenfreemall .com Many of their things are various types of allergy free and made in dedicated facilities. Did your son eat the nuts that he reacted to? Cross contamination is something that is different for each person I think. I actually just avoid processed foods and make pretty much everything from scratch. I use Bob's Red Mill for baking needs.

You can also get different kitchen equipment for your DS's cooking. We have a different cutting board, different pot and different knife for him. It helps because most contamination or line issues we've had have been mostly from situations like our own kitchen than production of the product. Do you think I need new muffin pans or the like because I used flour that might be cross contaminated before? We never did cooking with nuts or tree nuts or sesame in this house. It would only be x-contamination. My mode of operation has always been if he's allergic it's out of the house because I can't have his brother carrying stuff around on his hands or whatever.

As for the cantaloupe, my ds is allergic to that and watermelon but LOVES avacados - he eats them often and I actually think they help his eczema. He doesn't like bananas so he doesn't eat them. I agree with kjbrown that unless you see a reaction from those other foods, don't avoid them. You child loves bananas, eats them often and you haven't noticed anything so don't change it. If the loose stools are come and go and you can't identify something it could be any number of rather normal things, if they become chronic or persistant it's something more to look into. Definately start a food journal. As you keep track of things like that you'll be able to see more about cross contamination if it presents itself as an issue or the stool situation.
Good information-thank you! Do you think your son is allergic to banana or you think it's cantaloupe alone and he just doesn't like the banana? I just feel that I would have see the loose stools consistently if it was banana as he eats one most days. But I hate the thought I might be making him sick.

[kjbrown92]

Originally Posted by sbgrace

Originally Posted by kjbrown92 http://www.mothering.com/discussions...s/viewpost.gif
I'd definitely pull the nuts and sesame (sesame can be just as bad as nuts for some people).
Yes. I feel like I have to pull the sesame. I'm just confused about the shared lines. Example: his rice cakes--lundberg farms--they told me they run sesame at the end of the week, completely clean the machines, run the other flavors then run plain. So would plain be safe? The chicken stock was similar in that they had pretty extensive control procedures but since that is nut I really can't risk it at all.

Have you tried other rice cakes to check... Quaker (in my pantry) said "may contain peanuts." Didn't say anything about sesame or tree nuts. I can see the crackers being sesame contaminated because all of the cracker companies I've seen have a sesame version. You could make your own crackers. I just saw a recipe somewhere to make your own buckwheat crackers. I haven't tried it yet. My DS can only have rice on rotation (just got it back) so I've been toying with making crackers for him.

You can make chicken stock easily enough (since I started making my own, I haven't gone back to the boxed stuff). And turkey broth, now that DS can have it, I have to make it, because he can't have carrots, which is in all the canned/boxed stuff.
Very good to know! I've been looking at recipes and I got overwhelmed. So I'm glad it seems easy to you as I hope I'll feel that way too eventually. I'm looking at recipes today and a whole chicken made three cups of stock in a recipe. Three cups? That isn't much at all. What am I missing?

Roast a chicken. Pick most of the meat off the carcass. Put the carcass in a stockpot or crockpot (I have a gas cooktop and I'm not comfortable leaving it on all night, so I use a crockpot). I add 1 stalk celery, 1/2 Vidalia onion, 6 peppercorns, 2 garlic cloves. Fill with water. You can also put carrot in there. And a couple extra chicken feet if you have them (makes a better gel). I bring the crockpot up to a simmer by turning it on high for the first 4 hours, then back it down to lower, and leave it on for 24-36 hours. It makes more than 3 cups. Because we usually have soup out of it (4 of us) then still package up 3-4 more containers of it for the freezer. We do chicken and turkey stock the same way. Beef stock is supposed to be 48 hours, but I'm not a big fan of the flavor.

What flour companies have you called? Bob's Red Mill? Barry's Farm? Arrowhead Mills? All these. Bob's is out. Barry's is checking but they have an awful lot of nut products in their lines so I'm not hopeful. I'm waiting on Arrowhead but the other things I checked on with Hain/Celestial companies were very frustrating. They won't give me full information--just that they have allergy control procedures. I need to know if it shares a line! But I'm trying again w/flour.

It seems like the bigger the company, the harder it is to get info, unfortunately. I have better luck with the smaller companies. The bigger ones don't want to give out ingredients because they think it's proprietary. I had the hardest time with a cough drop manufacturer. Never did find out their "flavorings" because it was top secret apparently. Meanwhile my DS had a rash on his lip and tantrums for 10 days because of 1 coughdrop.

Before taking out any maybes (banana), I'd take out all the identified ones (including those on shared lines) to see if that is enough to stop reactions. Also, not that you want it, but it's possible that he's got IgE allergies AND intolerances (causing the loose stools perhaps). You might want to start keeping a food journal to see if there's a pattern (like if you notice it with cantaloupe's cousins). Good idea--thank you! There is not a way to accurately test IGG, right? I tried to track it and I couldn't see any pattern in what he ate and the stools. None. But now that I know there may be x-contamination the inconsistency could be caused by "it's there/it's not there" type stuff.

We used ALCAT for intolerance testing. It was around $500 for 150-200 foods. And it tests for an inflammatory response to food, not IgG. It was very accurate for us (1 false negative for each of them, but they were foods I already knew). And identified things that I had no clue about for each of them. But I'd start with a food journal to see if you could pick it up on that. They're very helpful in a lot of cases.

[WuWei]

Have you tried the Sue Gregg blender batter method of baking with whole grains? I use the same process to make pizza dough, doughnuts, pretzels, muffins, banana bread, pasta, cakes, cookies, etc. She has several cookbooks available with the 'how to'. But, about everything is free on her website, if you read through it. http://www.suegregg.com/recipes/brea...erwafflesA.htm

Here are a bunch of her recipes: http://www.suegregg.com/teaching/Who...ingLessons.htm

I do find that homemade pasta is easier with sprouted flour than with the blender batter, since there is so much liquid. And I haven't been successful with making sandwich bread, only dinner rolls with the blender batter. I don't have an exact recipe, I just do the 1:1 grain to liquid ratio and add extra sprouted or freshly ground flour to make the dough the right texture.

You can use most any grain. Some of the ladies in the TF forum have gluten free recipes for soaking grains. Definitely possible with rice as the grain. Another option is a grain mill. They are not cheap, but quick and easy to use and clean.

This is the grain mill I am coveting. Read the review and you'll be salivating for one too! http://www.amazon.com/Wolfgang-WM001...ef=pd_sbs_hg_3


Another review: http://cooking.glassbrian.com/2007/0...mo-fidibus-21/

The smaller version: http://www.naturaleurope.com/ne/KM-001.html


Pat

[WuWei]

I strain the broth from my chicken carcass at about 48 hours, then add fresh water and simmer the carcass for another 48 hours. I use a huge pot and add vegetables, so it is more bone/vegetable broth.


Pat

[kjbrown92]

Originally Posted by WuWei

I strain the broth from my chicken carcass at about 48 hours, then add fresh water and simmer the carcass for another 48 hours. I use a huge pot and add vegetables, so it is more bone/vegetable broth.


Pat

Does the second batch gel as well as the first?

[WuWei]

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

Does the second batch gel as well as the first?

Depends, sometimes, not usually. My focus is on the minerals. You get more gel, if it doesn't cook so long, I believe.

Pat

[mrforbes]

Have you tried Clabber Girl? http://clabbergirl.com/peanut_free.php
They have a peanut free facility and all their products (except the cocoa which they don't make just distribute) are peanut free. I saw on their online store that they had a general baking mix.

There is also Ener-G: http://www.food4celiacs.com/ShopOnline/NRG/140.html
That lists many allergens free including peanut and tree nut.

As for the muffin tins, I'm assuming you are going for an allergy free kitchen? I would get a different muffin tin if you don't use paper cups. I have a different bread pan for DS.

Oh I don't know much about this company but you could check them out:http://www.agvantage-naturals.com/

[mrforbes]

http://www.peanutfreeplanet.com/

[beingmommy]

Clabber Girl is not tree nut free. I called them for my DS a few months ago. Peanut free but not tree nut free.

Sbgrace I know exactly how you feel. My DS is anaphylactic to peanut and sesame. SUpposedly negative to tree nuts but we are avoiding for now. And he is also gluten intolerant (probable celiac). I am having such a hard time finding things to feed him. I mean, meats, fruits and veg would be fine. But finding anything baked or crackery, etc is very hard.

[sbgrace]

Originally Posted by beingmommy

Sbgrace I know exactly how you feel. My DS is anaphylactic to peanut and sesame. SUpposedly negative to tree nuts but we are avoiding for now. And he is also gluten intolerant (probable celiac). I am having such a hard time finding things to feed him. I mean, meats, fruits and veg would be fine. But finding anything baked or crackery, etc is very hard.

Yes, it's really a hard combination. I can find gluten free/tree nut free. I can find gluten free/sesame free. The gluten/tree nut/sesame is a bear. There is a lot less peanut x-contamination than tree nut it seems. Oh well. It's our life so I've got to get over it and manage.

Thank you so much everyone for ideas!

Thanks to this thread I found the buckwheat flour (Bouchard Family Farms) and rice flour (the Ener-gee) so that alone makes me feel I can do this. I've got to call companies but I have a couple of possible buckwheat and millet (whole) sources.

I'll resign myself to making the stock and hope it feels easy as I go. I hate raw meat so handling and rinsing a whole chicken (vs. my usual thigh or breast) is enough to make me want to quit. But I'll somehow manage.

Question--do you thin it to make the equivalent of the broth I'm buying? If I do organic chicken it seems like making my own is going to be awfully expensive.

I'm still looking for coconut oil but I can just use ghee so it's not a must have.
I'm terrified to start calling on my spices that they are all going to be sesame x-contaminated.

[kjbrown92]

We use Nutiva coconut oil. Have you called them? Once you have a plan, things seem a little easier. I don't thin the chicken broth at all. It's delicious.

[kjbrown92]

I'm making chicken broth today. I just put the frozen chicken carcass in the slow cooker. I actually measured the water while I was filling it up so I could get a ballpark about how much broth it makes. I put in 11 cups of water, so I'll bet it makes about 10 c. of broth. I stuck in two chicken feet besides for additional gelling. The gel is supposed to be what heals the intestines.

[beingmommy]

The Allergy Grocer online also has a line called Miss Robens. They are guaranteed peanut, sesame and tree nut free. She's got a ton of mixes (pie crust, bread, puff pastry, muffin, etc . . .) . I was estatic when I first found them. But unfortunately they don't work for us because all the mixes have sugar. My DS has horrible teeth. Weak enamel from the moment they came in and any sugar in his diet just makes them start to break down no matter how well we clean them. His top front teeth are already half gone. So for now we have to skip anything with sugar. But if you can do some sugar I bet the Miss Roben's stuff is great.

[kjbrown92]

Then went out of business last year. Are they back up? That was the only place I could find corn-free powdered sugar until Trader Joe's started making theirs with tapioca starch. They used to have a lot of good stuff. I just looked -- they are back up. That's awesome!!!

[beingmommy]

It IS great that they are back up. I called and spoke to the new owner (he actually answered the phone!) when I was finding out if the Miss Roben's stuff was really sesame free and he was very helpfull. He has a life threatening allergy to shellfish so he understands how important it is to prevent cross contamination.