From: Satchell, Felicia B Sent: Monday, April 07, 2003 4:54 PM To: Nalubola, Ritu; Kane, Rhonda R.; Thompson, Susan Subject: FW: FAAN Product-Related Member Calls, March 31-April 4, 2003 > ---------- > From: The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network[SMTP:FAAN@FOODALLERGY.ORG] > Sent: Monday, April 07, 2003 5:04:16 PM > To: Satchell, Felicia B > Subject: FAAN Product-Related Member Calls, March 31-April 4, 2003 > Auto forwarded by a Rule > > As always, everyone who calls FAAN about a product is instructed to call the manufacturer if they haven't already done so. Ragu Marinara Sauce - this e-mail is from (privacy). She still has the cookies and 2 jars of the marinara sauce (she isn't sure which jar she served her son from) and would like very much to have them tested. My name is (privacy) & I am a member of your organization. My 3 (almost 4) year old son (privacy) has an anaphylaxis reaction to milk products. Friday evening my son had a pretty severe reaction to something and had to be taken to the emergency room. We are very careful about what he is fed and at this point have no idea what he reacted to. The only new product he had for the first time was a new cookie on the market by Keebler, I have contacted them via e-mail & was referred to another department and will call them tomorrow. In the meantime, my son had another reaction tonight after dinner (less severe than Friday, but he did break out in some hives, was coughing and slightly wheezing he needed Benadryl and his albuterol inhaler). It winds up that he had pasta with Ragu's marinara sauce (which he also had on Friday for dinner). He has had this product many times before without incidence - there claims to be no milk products. I contacted Ragu s medical & safety department & although the gentleman on the phone politely took down all the information, I was more or less told that its more likely that my son is allergic to one of the other ingredients (which is merely tomatoes, soybean oil, vegetable oil, high fructose corn syrup, and I believe onions none of which my son has an allergy to). He also mentioned that it is very unlikely the product had been cross contaminated or mislabeled and it would be even harder to find it out. Can you offer me any advice at this point? My son's reactions are very scary for all of us and we try to protect him as much as possible, it is very frustrating that I don t know what he reacted to and even more frustrating to feel that the call I made to Ragu was't taken too seriously or I should say that it sounded to me that much wouldn't or couldn't be done to look into it. I m sure it s possible that it wasn't the sauce and merely a coincidence, but is there somewhere I can take the sauce and have it checked for milk products myself? Campfire Marshmallows - (privacy) called to tell us her 19-year-old milk-allergic daughter had a severe anaphylactic reaction 30 minutes after eating these marshmallows. She administered EpiPen and was treated in the emergency room with epinephrine, IV Benadryl, Pepcid, and Salumedrol. She has the remaining marshmallows and would like to have them tested. Nabisco Ritz Crackers - this e-mail from (privacy) contains a frequently-reported complaint: Today (Wed. 4/2/03) I gave my daughter regular Ritz crackers from a box of four individual tubes of crackers like I have done for years. I noticed something odd about the crackers and upon closer inspection, I discovered PEANUT BUTTER !!!! I checked the three other tubes of crackers and ALL of them had peanut butter on them. The amount of peanut butter was small, almost like someone with it on their hands had touched the crackers. I absolutely panicked. Now I am furious. I have trusted these crackers as a safe snack for years, and now, for whatever reason, peanut butter is appearing smeared on the sides of these crackers. Health is Wealth Chicken Patties and Fingers - this e-mail is from (privacy): I recently noticed that Health is Wealth Chicken Patties and Fingers added Soy Flour to their ingredient statements. I spoke with the company and they indicated that in response to comments from vegetarians, they had eliminated Fructose and as a result added a malted barley flour which contains Soy Flour. A spokesperson for the company indicated that they would try to attempt to get this ingredient removed at some time in the future. _______________________________________ Debbie Scherrer, Member Communications The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network 10400 Eaton Place, Suite 107 Fairfax, VA 22030 1-800-929-4040 Phone: 703-691-3179 Fax: 703-691-2713 http://www.foodallergy.org/ _______________________________________