Canadian Food Inspection Agency Allergy Alert

Some snack foods imported from Korea have been flagged by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for undeclared allergens. Check out the full warning.

Mike's Fish Market

Mike's Fish Market at St. Lawrence Market has a mouthwatering selection of fish and seafood on display. While it seems unlikely there are any peanuts or nut products present in any of the products available there, I still ask about the seasoning used on the salmon/black cod kebabs. The counterperson is friendly and obliging and promptly produces the spice mix so I can read the ingredients. No allergens are present and its grilled fish for dinner tonight!

Churrasco at St. Lawrence Market

A quick visit to the Churrasco at St. Lawrence Market confirms that the popular Portuguese-style rotisserie chicken contains no peanuts or nut products. After speaking with the owner, who makes the basting sauce himself, I feel safe in getting a chicken to go. He assures me that there are no allergens present in either the chicken itself or any of the other tasty treats available. I get a chicken for dinner - and fries for lunch! DJ wolfs down his toddler-sized portion with a side of rice with no problems.

While the stand certainly isn't as convenient as stopping at any one of the many grocery chains that carry rotisserie chickens, it's nice to know there is a safe option for us.

Always do your own research.

Grocery Store Rotisserie Chicken

One short cut for cooking dinner that I frequently take advantage of is the grocery store rotisserie chicken. On days when roasting my own bird isn't an option time wise, I like the convenience, and often strip the chicken to make everything from individual pot pies to quesadillas. Too bad a quick trip to Loblaws last night puts a damper on my plans. A warning that the store cannot guarantee the chicken has not come into contact with peanuts or other allergens has me searching for another quick fix for dinner.

Today, I'm going to check out the Churrasco stand at St. Lawrence market to see if the traditional Portuguese-style grilled chicken is safe. I'll blog more when I find out the answer.

.Com vs. .Ca - A Lesson Learned

Make sure to check the correct country of origin website when looking up allergen information for a restaurant you may want to visit. I naturally default to .com when accessing most websites.


In the case of Pizza Hut, my mistake could have been a serious one. Before calling up the Pembroke location I blogged about yesterday, I accessed http://www.pizzahut.com/. The allergen table indicated no peanuts or tree nuts in most of the products but warned that peanuts or nuts may be present in common manufacturing facilities. It didn't specify which menu items could be contaminated, so I called to ask the manager on duty. I didn't feel satisfied the pizza was safe, so we declined to order.


However, a look at the comments on http://www.peanutallergykid.blogspot.com/ alerted me to the difference between the Canadian and US operations. A visit to the Canadian site reveals that nearly all of of the crusts are indeed manufactured on a line that also produces products that contain peanuts and/or nuts.


To me, this just reinforces how cautious one has to be when dealing with peanut allergy and how important it is to do your own research and ask questions when in doubt.


Always do your own research.

Maple Dale Cheese

Maple Dale Cheese, about 10 minutes north of the 401 on higway 37, has always been one of our favourite stops on the way to the lake. A quick grilled cheese sandwich, made with aged cheddar, on whole wheat seemed like a good alternative to the fast food fare along the highway, and with few towns between here and our final destination, we considered it a great place for a pit stop. With DJ's peanut/nut allergy I am not so sure anymore. After explaining our situation to one of the workers there, I am told that the Maple Dale factory, where all of their cheese is produced, has been operating as a nut-free facility for over a year. However, with nut-laden ice-creams also served in the store, I am concerned about cross contamination. The solution? The worker offers to thoroughly wipe down the counter with hot soapy water before she prepares our sandwiches. I am also offered the bread bag to check the ingredients. We decide it's a go, and within ten minutes are sitting down to a deliciously hot and gooey grilled cheese sandwich. I am still a little nervous because we will be heading away from the nearest hostpital, which is at least a 20 minutes drive in the direction we came from, so we linger after, checking out the cheeses for sale and letting DJ stretch his legs on the grass outside. We end up leaving with a block of nine year old cheddar.

Always do you own research.

Pizza Hut

We're hotel-bound on the outskirts of Pembroke after our camping trip is waylaid by bad weather and a shattered rear window. Delivery choices are limited, and pizza seems like a relatively safe bet. Still after a call to Pizza Hut I am still unsure as to what their allergen policy is, even after speaking with the on-duty manager. Even though the pizza dough, sauce and toppings contain no peanuts or nuts, I am told that the ingredients may have come from a facility where peanuts or nuts are processed. We decline to order based on the notion that there may be trace amounts of allergens in the food as a result of the manufacutring process. Given that other pizza makers can guarantee no nuts, I'm disappointed that a chain as big as Pizza Hut can't. We try 2-4-1 instead, with more success.