PSA : Nut Allergy Warnings on Holiday Candy Packaging

Getting through the holidays with a nut allergy can be daunting. This afternoon I took a trip up to our local Target with my daughter, my 6 year old with a nut allergy was at school, we saw that the Valentine’s Day candy was out and decided to stop by and pick up some treats for the kids.

I’ve been living with my child’s nut allergy for the last 5 years, so this post is being prefaced with the knowledge that I do understand and know how to read labels. I check labels on everything I purchase.

This is my warning to parents who are purchasing holiday candy for their nut allergy children.

read. every. single. label!

I don’t care if it’s made from a brand that you trust with your life. Check every label.

I strolled by the Brachs Heartlines Tiny Conversation Hearts, there was a pile of about 25-30 bags laying there. I picked up a bag and looked at the back, the candy was made in Argentina with no warnings of being manufactured in a plant with nuts.

I picked up another bag. SAME EXACT PACKAGING sitting in the same exact pile. Same product, same packaging colors, everything looked the same.

Yet the second bag was manufactured in Canada and did contain a warning of being manufactured in a plant with peanuts and tree nuts.

I understand that companies mass produce candy around the holiday time and majority of the time, most candy is NOT safe because they pick a few plants and produce everything there.

But there are candies out there that are safe for peanut and tree nut allergies.

Brach’s is a big enough brand that I would surely expect them to at least have different packaging when choosing to manufacture the same exact product in two different plants. One safe and one that is not. I hope after this warning they will consider doing so. Even a color change in packaging would give a parent an initial reaction to check the labels more closely.

All it would take is one parent to pick up a safe bag of Brachs Heartlines Tiny Conversation Hearts candy and assume that the rest of the pile, in the same exact packaging, it safe as well. That parent bring the bags home, mix them all together in a bowl, offer it to friends who are visiting “Sure they are safe! Look at the package” and you could have a life threatening situation in your hands.

So my PSA from this article is this. Please take the time to check every single label, every day food and candy. Specially holiday candy! One bag may be safe and the next might not.