New Restaurant Review Website

Look for or rate allergy-friendly restaurants:

AllergyEats is a comprehensive, user-friendly guide to allergy-friendly restaurants across the United States. It is a peer-reviewed directory of restaurants - rated by people with food allergies, for people with food allergies.

Our database has over 600,000 restaurant listings across the U.S. - from large chains to small mom and pops, from gourmet to greasy spoons. We've laid the groundwork by providing you with menus - including kids', gluten-free, and allergy-specific - where available, as well as any other relevant information from restaurants. 
The rest is up to you.

Check it out: Allergy Eats - Allergy Friendly Restaurants online guide

News From Spangler Candy

Dear All;

Spangler Candy Company, maker of Dum Dum Pops®, Saf-T-Pops®, Marshmallow Circus Peanuts and Candy Canes, has been FREE of the TOP MAJOR ALLERGENS for many years and has developed a new Allergen-Free brochure to help consumers to better understand the products.

With food allergies and intolerances becoming more of an everyday topic and affecting an increasing number of people, Spangler wants to make sure the Allergen-Free Community is aware of the products that are available. Therefore, we have attached a pdf version of this new brochure, which can also be found athttp://www.spanglercandy.com/spangler/newspr/allergens.php.

We hope this brochure will help you and your Allergen-Free Community to feel confident and safe when eating Spangler Candy products.

If you are satisfied with Spangler candies, please help us spread the word on the availability of these allergen-free, quality products!

Thank you for your support and have a nice day!

Sincerely,

Stacy Shoup

Marketing Administrator

phone: (419) 636-4221 ext. 205

fax: (419) 636-3695

www.spanglercandy.com

Patisserie Bleu Cafe, Nashua: Gluten-Free, Allergy-Free Treats

Patisserie Bleu | Allergy Free and Gluten Free Baking

Dealing with Food Allergies in College

allergies / 16 - Inside Higher Ed

New Food Allergy Restaurant Review Website

Greetings Support Group Leaders,   To introduce myself, up until a year and a half ago, I was News Coverage Manager at CNN's Washington Bureau where beyond my daily news responsibilities I produced many stories on food allergies with chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. You can find online some of the TV transcripts and CNN.com articles I wrote on the subject, including a report on Sabrina Shannon, which won a number of journalism awards, including from FAAN.   I became interested in the subject after my daughter was diagnosed with multiple food allergies (at the time, allergic to all major allergens + a few). I'm writing you as I'm in the process of launching a website where families with food allergic kids/parents can write reviews about restaurants they visit. There are fantastic online resources reviewing restaurants and hotels, (Tripadvisor, Yelp, VirtualTourist, etc.) but because I couldn’t find any that consolidated the experiences of those with food allergies, I decided to create an interactive database where we can review restaurants, hotels, airlines, and kid-friendly venues (like Disney). Wouldn’t it be great to give a shout out to a place that did a great job helping your child have a safe meal, or warn others of a place to stay away from at all cost? The web address is www.lonelyplate.org. I'm asking friends and food allergy support group members to publish the first posts or send me (so I can post for them) reviews of businesses they've visited. This kind of information-sharing is crucial not only to keep each other safe but also can be a message to restaurants that we are a consumer community worth catering to. Among the Washington, D.C. support group members, we have been exchanging this kind of information for years (as I know many of you do in your locales), but we never shared this information with food allergic families in other cities and countries, something I aim to accomplish. Looking forward to hearing from you. I’d appreciate it if you could distribute this email to your group members. Best wishes, Sharona Schwartz

NCFD Donation!

The New Castle Fire Department has donated $300.00 to the our group from their holiday charitable fund. Many thanks to volunteer firefighter Mark Syracusa and all members of the NCFD for the generous support.

Valentine's Day Party Tips

Ask the teacher to request that parents do not put candy in the valentines which will be passed out to students. Encourage parents to bring in non-food items for the party (example: stickers, heart-shaped erasers, rings, bracelets, etc.) Bring a safe treat for your child to eat during the party. Check all the valentines for candy/chocolates before giving them to your child.  Many cards come with candy attached to them. Instead of the party being focused on treats, suggest that the students play games with a Valentine's Day theme. (Example: Instead of 'Duck, Duck, Goose' they could play 'Heart, Heart, Cupid!' OR instead of 'Hot Potato', they could play, 'Sweet Heart' the words might go like this: Sweet Heart, Sweet Heart, round and round, where you stop, love is found. The student left holding the heart is out and the play continues passing a heart around the room. Volunteer to help with the party so you can supervise, especially during snack time. Teach your child to politely say, 'No thank you, I have food allergies.' to people offering candy or treats without proper labeling. Ask the teacher and parents involved with the party planning if the class could participate in some valentine crafts (paper bouquets, heart-shaped wreaths, etc.) instead of focusing on the candy/treats. Remember to speak to the teacher and the parents before the party about your child's food allergies...just a friendly reminder. Send your child with ALL the proper medications in case of an emergency.