Almost every school in North America has a ban on peanut products. For parents this sometimes poses a problem when preparing lunch for your children. Most kids LOVE PB&J . Some parents are not able to get their youngsters to eat anything else at lunch.
Because many companies prepare all different kinds of food in one plant, food that would never normally come in contact with peanuts are marked as a risk for insurance reasons. This intern cuts out more products that kids would normally be able to eat.
Lately I have been seeing more packaging that states that the product is peanut free. Chapmans Ice cream has quite a few products that are marked with a red flag and Quaker now has 7 different bars and marked with a label. 
In the recent edition of “Green Living”, the magazine that comes with Toronto Life, the had a jar of “Omega Nutrition’s Pumpkin Seed Butter” as an alternative to peanut butter. I have to warn you – it is apparently green in color because that is the natural color of the pumpkin seeds. The rich vibrant color is your guarantee of freshness. It also has the layer of oil on top like peanut butter because there is no additives like hydrogenated oils (trans-fatty acids) to keep these two layers together providing you with an all-natural product free of trans-fatty acids. As a bonus, the pumpkin seed butter is a great source of Omega-6 and Omega-9 EFA’s.
Here are some guidelines for coping with a peanut allergy. Avoid These:
- Asian restaurants, because of the widespread use of peanuts and peanut oil in foods and the risks of cross-contamination
- baked goods made in people’s homes or in local bakeries
- ice cream and frozen yogurt shops
- candy stores
- Mexican restaurants, where peanut butter is often used in brown sauces
- All nuts, because of unintentional substitutions and because other nuts are often roasted with peanuts or in peanut oil
- Be wary of spaghetti sauce or chili, often thickened with peanut butter
