Today!

Today we decided to have a picnic as a family and go on a nature walk. We went to the store to buy sandwich items because we were running low. When we went up to the deli counter I noticed that there was a sign over the salad items. The sign said that there may be cross-contamination with all of the big food allergens. On the other side, where the deli meat was, I saw no sign. So, I asked her about it. She said that she could check the ingredients. So, then I brought up that the meat cutter could cause cross-contamination. She said that they clean it after every use. So, I was still nervous and had decided not to chance it but buy some for my husband and I anyway. She really did not seem to know what she was talking about. Then I saw that she had the SAME gloves on that she was using when getting the person before us his food. That right there causes cross-contamination. It frustrated me that someone working with food was almost clueless when it came to food allergies. Everyone working in a food business should be educated on that. I know that when getting your food handlers you learn about cross-contamination but when I took the test it only talked about raw meats. I don't know if that has changed. I took that before my son was born and things have changed in the years since.

We had a picnic at the table and that concerns me too because I don't know what people have eaten there and I doubt they cleaned up after. I try teaching my son to only eat off of his plate, or in this case napkin, so that he wont have a reaction but sometimes he will drop it and not see that as a threat. Everything was fine and they finished up. We walked 4 miles! My kids were carried some of the time but they were troopers!

After that we ran errands and while at Home Depot my son starts telling me he has allergies. I didn't think anything of it because we weren't at a food store so it was probably him just talking about his allergies. But, then a few minutes later I look over and see that hes rubbing a very red eye. I don't know what it was, it got better with him leaving it alone. But, I thought it was great that he told me he was having allergies when his eye started getting itchy.