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Updated: October 21, 2022 @ 11:40 am
A teal pumpkin — either the real thing or a sign on the front porch — shows that you are a household that has alternate or nonfood treats for children who suffer from food allergies.
The Teal Pumpkin Project suggests giving out nonedible “treats” to children with food allergies.
The Teal Pumpkin Project suggests giving out nonfood “treats” to children with food allergies. Courtesy | Elle Riley Photography
Bright, colorful jack-o’-lantern halloween candy buckets sit in a row on a bench. Adobestock image
Kel
A teal pumpkin — either the real thing or a sign on the front porch — shows that you are a household that has alternate or nonfood treats for children who suffer from food allergies.
The Teal Pumpkin Project suggests giving out nonedible “treats” to children with food allergies.
The Teal Pumpkin Project suggests giving out nonfood “treats” to children with food allergies. Courtesy | Elle Riley Photography
Bright, colorful jack-o’-lantern halloween candy buckets sit in a row on a bench. Adobestock image
Kel
In the 1980s, there was the “razors in candied apples” scare that had parents sorting through their children’s candy stashes before anything could be eaten. Later, any wrapped candies found open, torn or unwrapped were immediately trashed.
Now, parents are much more pragmatic when it comes to Halloween candy safety due to the real dangers posed by food allergies and other health complications. According to the organization Food Allergy Research & Education, 1 in 13 children in the U.S. lives with food allergies, or two children per classroom per school.
Because Halloween is one of the trickiest days of the year for children with food allergies, Food Allergy Research & Education created the Teal Pumpkin Project, which suggests giving out nonedible “treats” to children with food allergies. Such treats could include glow sticks, spider rings, vampire fangs, bubbles, bouncy balls, finger puppets, whistles, bookmarks or stickers.
As awareness about the project continues to grow nationwide, online searches will pull up Teal Pumpkin maps of cities that show homes handing out nonfood treats on Halloween. A Food Allergy Research & Education map this week indicated one home within Joplin’s city limits as being a Teal Pumpkin house.
Still, it doesn’t hurt for parents who are trick-or-treating with their children to ask if alternate nonfood treats are available. Additionally, any households not listed on Teal Pumpkin maps simply need to place a teal-colored pumpkin on the front porch, or a picture of one on their front door, to signify they are allergy-aware.
An allergic reaction usually happens shortly after the candy is eaten, and symptoms can vary from mild to severe — hives, swelling, wheezing and sneezing, nausea, vomiting, throat tightness or even loss of consciousness.
Certain groups of foods trigger 90% of food allergies, and three of those allergens — milk, tree nuts and peanuts — are found in most chocolate candies, most notably in the form of candy bars.
For parents of children with food allergies, Halloween can be a stress-filled time. Fearing unexpected allergic reactions, parents are forced to police the candy by sorting out safe and unsafe piles while monitoring candy consumption at all times.
Just ask Joplin resident Monica Vaughn, who has a peanut allergy.
“It is not life or death, but it will make me very ill for a day or two,” she said. “I have occasionally eaten an item I didn’t know had it, and I can tell by the first bite.”
Today’s parents “probably check all ingredients on everything if their kids have allergies,” she said. “This not only applies to Halloween but school functions, birthday parties, potlucks, etc.”
Food allergies didn’t affect her children when they went trick-or-treating, but she did have a daughter with diabetes. The food allergy rules applied to her daughter on Halloween night: “We made sure things are appropriate to eat beforehand. We did appreciate all our neighbors who got special items for our daughter so she wouldn’t feel left out. But we also had to make sure she didn’t eat any candy until she got home.”
With her own peanut allergy and her daughter’s diabetes in mind, “when we lived in Webb City, we used to get kids coming in from all over” on Halloween night, Vaughn said. “We kept a few items for kids that we knew needed special things.”
• Snacking: Children shouldn’t snack on treats from their goody bags while they’re out trick-or-treating. Give them a light meal or snack before they head out — don’t send them out on an empty stomach. Urge them to wait until they get home and let you inspect their loot before they eat any of it.
• Safe treats: Tell children not to accept — and especially not to eat — anything that isn’t commercially wrapped. Inspect commercially wrapped treats for signs of tampering, such as an unusual appearance or discoloration, tiny pinholes or tears in wrappers. Throw away anything that looks suspicious.
• Food allergies: If your child has a food allergy, check the label to ensure the allergen isn’t present. Do not allow the child to eat any home-baked goods he or she may have received.
• Choking hazards: If you have very young children, be sure to remove any choking hazards such as gum, peanuts, hard candies, or small toys.
SOURCE: U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Kevin McClintock is features editor for The Joplin Globe as well as editor of the award-winning Joplin Magazine, a bi-monthly lifestyles magazine. Kevin has been with The Joplin Globe since 2009. He can be reached at 417-627-7279.
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