CeliacChicks

Council Passes Lappin Bill To Protect Food Allergic New Yorkers

I just received this most excellent news:

For the average New Yorker a simple mistake by a waiter or cook is an inconvenience.  If you order decaf and the waiter brings you regular, it might keep you up all night.  However, for the 300,000 New Yorkers who suffer from food allergies, a similar mistake could be fatal.

At yesterday's meeting, the City Council passed my legislation to require restaurants and other food service establishments to display a poster that provides important food allergy information to their staff. 

This is literally a life or death issue for millions of Americans.  We need to make sure that food preparers in New York City  understand the dangers and how to prevent fatal attacks.  Deaths from food allergies are preventable if people are educated.

Despite the importance of education in preventing food allergy reactions, a survey conducted by the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in 2007 found that of the 100 restaurant managers, chefs, and servers they surveyed, only 42 percent had received any food allergy education.  Twenty four percent thought that it is safe to consume small amounts of an allergen; 25 percent thought that removing problem foods-like nuts or shrimp-from a finished dish would make it safe; and 35 percent believed that fryer heat destroys allergens.

The new poster, which will be available in multiple languages, will highlight the most common food allergens, as well as provide information about how to avoid cross contamination and what signs to look for to identify an allergic reaction.  The poster will be displayed in a conspicuous location that is visible to food preparers and food handlers.

This is a small and simple thing we can do, but it has the potential to save lives.

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Council Member Jessica Lappin
Web:
Email: lappin@council.nyc.ny.us

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Now I'm not sure if this will include gluten issues, since they are technically not an allergy. I can't wait to see the poster!

Have a great weekend!

I'm Alive! Gluten-Free Hospital Food & Allergy Info Update

Thank you all for the good vibes you've sent my way over the last few days. I've been thinking about what an interesting place cyberspace is, and how I have friends that I've never even met in person. Amazing!

I'm happy to report that everything went well with my surgery, and after a weekend of pain I'm now feeling pretty perky.

I thought you might find it interesting to see the reassuring allergy band that they gave me to wear at the hospital. (above) Although, in recovery, under the influence of my new warm and fuzzy friend Percocet, some dude (nurse intern?) tried to give me graham crackers to eat! Fortunately I was coherent enough to refuse them.

Oh, and regarding the corn allergy, when I spoke to the anesthesiologist about my corn allergy and asked about the use of a dextrose (corn) IV and alternatives, he explained that he had planned on using a saline IV, so no worries. I didn't get to ask out of curiosity why they would choose between the two, I was just happy that I didn't have to worry. Now I am going to add "corn-free saline IV" to my medical directive that I keep in my wallet.

Now I must go and catch up on emails...!

Related Info:
Gluten-Free Hospital Food & Allergy Info
Gluten-Free Drugs

Gluten-Free Hospital Food & Info

I'm a little nervous. I'm having surgery tomorrow. Don't worry- due to the miracles of modern medicine I won't have to spend the night, but I'll still have to have full anesthesia. I'll spare you the details because, trust me, you don't want the details. Besides, guessing will be more fun! Labotomy? J-Lo implants? Fripple removal?

I'm telling you this because I've found some helpful information that I thought might be of interest to anyone else that is gluten-free if they end up at the hospital, or at least for you to know just for the sake of being prepared for the unexpected that will hopefully never happen.

First of all, GIG has a great checklist of helpful info you can dowload here: Hospital Stays Made Safe . (Thanks to Ginger for the timely tip!)

Second, did you know that there is a company that sells gluten-free and even gluten-free casein-free food kits for hospitals? Even prisons?! (Uh, hope I never need one there!) You can read all about it here. (Thanks, Nancy.)

So, if you have any tips for a gluten-free hospital stay, please share them with all of us.

Oh, and pleeease forgive me if I owe you an email. I promise that I haven't forgotten about you!

Talk to you soon!

Besitos,

Kelly

P.S. If you have a corn allergy, I found out some great info about corn-free IV's. Evidently, you can easily get a corn-free saline IV. Of course, I'm not deathly allergic to corn, but I figure I'll at least ask for this since my body definitely doesn't like corn and I figure it is probably a good idea not to "do" corn intravaneously. I'll let you know how it goes.

Additional Information:
Gluten-free Drug Info
Gluten-Free Hospital Food Update & Allergy Info

Corn Allergy News

Epicurious recently had an interesting article* about corn allergies on their new Epi-log blog. As many of you know, I am allergic to corn and dairy. I always thought this allergy was uncommon, but this article points out that in the United States there are an estimated 10,000,000 people with a corn allergy! Whoa! Does anyone know why corn is not on the list of top eight food allergens? And why did they cut it off at eight? I bet corn is number 9 or 10!

If you have a corn allergy, you might enjoy watching the documentary King Corn. I really liked it. Uh, and maybe you can make some popcorn for the show!

I'm just curious, how many of you with celiac disease have additional food allergies? And what are they?

*The article mentions "corn gluten", this is not to be confused with wheat gluten, or gluten in the grains that are on the forbidden list for those with celiac disease. Corn is a safe ingredient for people on a gluten-free diet.

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