Kentucky Armory Club

If you have friends or family with food allergies (as I do), this may be the most important post you share all week: There is a giant, ongoing recall of cumin and products containing the spice due to undeclared peanut proteins. What’s unusual is this recall has been building since December, with more and more foods (from taco kits and Cajun seasoning mix to beef and chicken) added and major retailers including Target, Walmart, and Whole Foods yanking products off their shelves.

Thankfully, no deaths have been reported, which is especially lucky considering that peanuts are one of the foods most likely to trigger a fatal anaphylactic reaction, according to Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE). (The others are tree nuts and crustacean shellfish.)

RELATED: 20 Things You Should Throw Away for Better Health

The exact danger posed by a contaminated food “depends on the ingested quantity and the degree of sensitivity,” explains Dr. Sami Bahna, a spokesperson for the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. “The reaction can vary from minimal rash to chest wheezing to airway obstruction, or anaphylactic shock. Some patients need to have an epinephrine auto-injector for immediate use.” (My second-grader, Gus, is both peanut- and tree nut-allergic and must have his EpiPen with him at all times.)

To stay safe, first check your kitchen (including the fridge and freezer) and dump not only the recalled foods but any others that clearly contain cumin. Here’s where it gets tricky. You can’t always tell which spices are in that can of soup or frozen chicken patty, because manufacturers aren’t required by law to specify exact spices—they are allowed to group them under “spices.” How can that be?

“Competition among food manufacturers requires some secrecy about the ingredients or recipes,” Bahna said. “It took many years to get legislation to require the food industry to list on labels the 8 major food allergens.”

RELATED: 25 Ways to Allergy-Proof Your Home

Allergic Living points out that cumin is likely to be in many Tex-Mex and Indian foods, making them suspect. (As those of us whose kids have food allergies know, we’re always in “better safe than sorry” mode.) Also key: Sign up for USDA food allergy alerts so you’ll be first to hear if new products are pulled.

The welcome news, according to Bahna, is that these scares may be a little less scary in the not-too-distant future: “Research studies are going on for desensitization. In a few years, we expect the development of effective, safe protocols for building tolerance—at least against accidental exposure in the highly sensitive.” Here’s hoping.

jackalo626 wrote:Peanut allergy is a human created deficiency. We weren't dropping like flies during our grandparents generation and school lunches were full of food that had it or in contact with it. We are so frail now it sickens me.

WLJ wrote:

jackalo626 wrote:Peanut allergy is a human created deficiency. We weren't dropping like flies during our grandparents generation and school lunches were full of food that had it or in contact with it. We are so frail now it sickens me.

Makes me wonder sometimes, have we or the peanuts changed or both? Or maybe did it kill people in the past but no one had a clue why they dropped dead back then. In other words I don't know.

jackalo626 wrote:

WLJ wrote:

jackalo626 wrote:Peanut allergy is a human created deficiency. We weren't dropping like flies during our grandparents generation and school lunches were full of food that had it or in contact with it. We are so frail now it sickens me.

Makes me wonder sometimes, have we or the peanuts changed or both? Or maybe did it kill people in the past but no one had a clue why they dropped dead back then. In other words I don't know.

If the peanuts changed then we would have adjusted to it or all of us sick. We are just vaginas now.

Toddstang wrote:Imagine a gay guy with nut allergies. That would be an oxymoron.

jackalo626 wrote:We are just vaginas now.

SeymourSkinner wrote:

jackalo626 wrote:

WLJ wrote:

jackalo626 wrote:Peanut allergy is a human created deficiency. We weren't dropping like flies during our grandparents generation and school lunches were full of food that had it or in contact with it. We are so frail now it sickens me.

Makes me wonder sometimes, have we or the peanuts changed or both? Or maybe did it kill people in the past but no one had a clue why they dropped dead back then. In other words I don't know.

If the peanuts changed then we would have adjusted to it or all of us sick. We are just vaginas now.

Tell that to the 7 yr old in anaphlaphetic shock. Seen it. Not fun.

SeymourSkinner wrote:

jackalo626 wrote:

WLJ wrote:

jackalo626 wrote:Peanut allergy is a human created deficiency. We weren't dropping like flies during our grandparents generation and school lunches were full of food that had it or in contact with it. We are so frail now it sickens me.

Makes me wonder sometimes, have we or the peanuts changed or both? Or maybe did it kill people in the past but no one had a clue why they dropped dead back then. In other words I don't know.

If the peanuts changed then we would have adjusted to it or all of us sick. We are just vaginas now.

Tell that to the 7 yr old in anaphlaphetic shock. Seen it. Not fun.

Frailer wrote:My opinion--and it's just opinion--is that the rise in peanut allergies is at least partially the result of telling pregnant women to avoid peanuts and mothers to avoid giving peanut products to very young infants a decade or two ago.

SeymourSkinner wrote:

jackalo626 wrote:

SeymourSkinner wrote:

jackalo626 wrote:

WLJ wrote:

jackalo626 wrote:Peanut allergy is a human created deficiency. We weren't dropping like flies during our grandparents generation and school lunches were full of food that had it or in contact with it. We are so frail now it sickens me.

Makes me wonder sometimes, have we or the peanuts changed or both? Or maybe did it kill people in the past but no one had a clue why they dropped dead back then. In other words I don't know.

If the peanuts changed then we would have adjusted to it or all of us sick. We are just vaginas now.

Tell that to the 7 yr old in anaphlaphetic shock. Seen it. Not fun.

Your post is not correct to what I was trying to say. I was saying that if things evolved then we as a whole would have evolved to overcome it or we would as a whole get sick. I understand it is real and never questioned that, I am saying it is human induced from what we have done to food and not evolution of a nut. That should clear it up more.

That does clear it up. Gracias.

rustynuts wrote:

jackalo626 wrote:We are just vaginas now.

Quote of the day.

Niceguy wrote:

Frailer wrote:My opinion--and it's just opinion--is that the rise in peanut allergies is at least partially the result of telling pregnant women to avoid peanuts and mothers to avoid giving peanut products to very young infants a decade or two ago.

That's my opinion also. We are homogenized, pasturized, sterilized, preserved, steroided, chemically enhanced to death. Our food is no longer food, it's a science experiment.

Niceguy wrote:Just throwing out words and realize ALL of them aren't necessarily bad. Don't you think food in its natural state is better for us? There's no way it can be a good thing when cows look like juiced up bodybuilders, chicken breast the size of large turkeys, bananas and other fruits 4 or more times their normal sizes, and vegetables that grow 4 times their normal growth rate.

Niceguy wrote:We definitely have a different opinion on this then. We should probably cuss eachother, maybe fight and then each start our on political agenda to take over the world with people that only share our own beliefs, be them right or wrong... haha

KYgundude wrote:Screw peanuts. They aren't even nuts! They're beans!!