While I must steer clear of nuts, I've never let that affect my travel plans, although I imagine I'd have to be prepared if I ever make it to the land of the curry and cashews. So, what do you do if you're headed somewhere and have to keep an eye on your allergies?

CNN has a great list up, which suggests everything from the classic "talk to the chef," to traveling with cards that list your allergies in the language spoken at your destination. How neat is that? Just buy the card you need, and you won't have to worry about trying to translate yourself and accidentally telling someone you're allergic to shoes instead of shellfish.

I'm one of those people who is pretty laid back about their allergy, and even I see the benefit of this. Do you want to get stuck in some foreign hospital, or die before you finish your vacation? How inconvenient!

If you have any allergy travel tips, share below!

• Prime Minister Stephen Harper gets a prorogue while Kim Honey cooks a goose ... parallels?
  
• Do you have bad allergies that keep restaurants from being a dream? Try calling ahead and getting a specially prepared menu.
• Gord Stimmel tastes newly released pricey single-malts, port, and wine for the holiday season.
• Recipes: Orange Polenta Cookies and Aztec Cookies

This has actually been out for a few days now. I don't think it's too widespread, but Post has recalled its Live-Active cereal. Luckily, it's not from any disease-causing bacteria.

Nope, the cereal box was mislabeled and it may contain tree nuts. Maybe that's not salmonella, but it's pretty bad if you're allergic to tree nuts.

Return or discard boxes of the cereal with a UPC of 00430000238900 and 'best by' date 17DEC2008. Call 866-771-1511 with questions.

Want to protect your unborn kids from getting asthma and allergies? You might want to add fish and apples to your diet.

Researchers in Scotland and the Netherlands have discovered that apples might have an effect on asthma in kids aged 5 and that fish might have an effect on the risk of eczema in children.

This isn't the first study involving the same group of children. Earlier studies suggested that mothers who had more vitamin E, vitamin D and zinc while pregnant might also lower the risk of asthma, allergies and eczema.

Research seems to point out that children who eat a diet high in fruit, nuts, olive oil, and vegetables; basically a Mediterranean diet, may be less likely to develop allergies and asthma. The diet helped allergic rhinitis, asthma, and skin allergies. Children who ate nuts at least three times a week, as well as grapes, were less likely to have asthmatic symptoms. Interestingly, lots of margarine greatly increased asthma and allergic rhinitis.

Some of the experts and researchers feel that the enormous increase of asthma in developed countries is linked to eating less natural and fresh foods to fast foods the last few decades. Asthma rates have doubled in the last 20 years while there has been a decrease in important vitamins and minerals in children's diets. At the same time the consumption of fats in oils and processed foods has risen dramatically.

High consumption of a 'Mediterranean' diet consisting of fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and olive oil had a positive effect, says a report by researchers from Crete, Britain and Spain. Eating oranges, apples, grapes, and tomatoes daily protected against wheezing and allergic rhinitis. Nuts were very beneficial, possibly because they contain vitamin E and high levels of magnesium, which may protect against asthma.

Also research at St George's Hospital Medical School in London found that healthy lung function was linked to high intake of vitamins C, E, beta-carotene, and citrus fruits, apples and fruit juice. High levels of antioxidants in the diet like C and E help people handle inflammatory lung disease better. Also it is possible that high intake of salt and fatty acids like those found in margarine could induce asthma.

Just over six months ago, Cadbury went through a major recall of some of their best selling products in the UK because the bars tested positive for traces of salmonella. In Canada, at about this time last year, the company had to recall some Cadbury Easter eggs because "pieces of hard plastic" were found in them. Now, the company is faced with yet another recall. This time, thousands of Easter eggs and chocolates were shipped out with no nut-allergy warning on the packaging, which puts those with such allergies at serious risk.

Since many of the chocolates have already been distributed, Cadbury is not only recalling them from stores, but chose to run ads in the newspapers to try to draw consumers' attention to the potential risk. A Cadbury spokesman could not give an estimate as to the exact number of products involved in the recall, but he speculated that the number of candies - primarily Easter-themed Cadbury Creme Eggs - would be in the thousands not the millions. The real danger for the company in this third recall comes from decreasing consumer confidence in their brand and whether the love of Creme Eggs (properly labeled ones) is enough to make consumers stay with them.

At Duke University, researchers have been engaged in an experiment that could change the lives of those with severe food allergies. Those allergies trigger approximately 30,000 emergency-room visits each year and are sometimes the result of an exposure to a very tiny amount of allergen. This new study suggests that gradually increasing exposure to even smaller amounts of the allergen can build up a resistance - especially in children - and prevent one mouthful of the wrong food from becoming deadly.

In the study, children were given amounts of defatted peanut flour or an egg powder - very common, but serious, allergens - as small as 1/3,000th of a peanut or about 1/1,000th of an egg (under supervision at the Duke Hospital). Taken in pill form daily, the dosage was increased bi-weekly until the children were consuming the equivalent of 1/10th of an egg or 1 peanut, which became a maintenance dose that they took daily throughout the study, which lasted about 2 years. At that point, 4 of the 7 egg-allergic children could eat two scrambled eggs without any type of reaction (2 more could eat that much before reacting) and many of the peanut-allergic children could eat up to 15 peanuts before starting to experience a reaction.

At this time, researchers strongly recommend that you do not try this type of treatment at home, because it can be dangerous without careful monitoring. To the parents who joined in, however, the success could prove to be a lifesaver for their children and, as a result, researchers are optimistic that there could be a highly effective treatment available to parents and children within five years.

Even though it sounded like a promising idea, activists for the "scent sensitive" have gotten the chocolate chip scent banned from bus shelters after only one day! These complainers - oops, I mean activists - claimed that the smells could potentially trigger an asthma attack, although there were no cases of such things occurring. CBS Outdoor, the company that put up the scented strips for the California Milk Processor Board's campaign, said that the strips used no chemicals and that there was no way that they could have directly triggered any allergic reactions, although they are complying with the city's request to take them down.

Honestly, if you can't handle the scent of chocolate chip cookies, how on earth can you handle taking a bus in a big city? Do these activists actually walk around San Francisco? It's not the cleanest-smelling city in the world. Besides, in just about any city the scent of chocolate chip cookies would be an improvement over exhaust, sewer and trash fumes. Perhaps they found the scent to be too appealing and were actually worried that cookie cravings would cause people to hyperventilate in excitement. Or maybe they were worried that their own cravings would make them blow their diets the next time they walked by a bakery.

The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook: Delicious Dairy-Free Cheeses and Classic "Uncheese" Dishes isn't a cookbook about cheese. It's a cookbook about "cheez" - vegan alternatives to cheese that can be used in similar ways. While they can taste similar or look, the point of such a dish is not necessarily to replicate cheese, but to offer vegans, vegetarians or anyone who does not/can not eat cheese a way to fill in some of the gaps left by the omission of cheese. For example, there are many creamy soups, rich sauces and other dishes, from lasagna to fondue, that use cheese as a primary component and using an "uncheese" allows the dish to be recreated in a similar - but cheese-free - way.

Typical ingredients for the cheezes include cashews, beans, nutritional yeast and non-dairy milk and there is a list of potential allergens included with each recipe. Recipes include a version of Brie, Almond Cream Cheez, Chocolate Cheezcake, Baked Macaroni and Cheez and Traditional Fondue, as well as many ideas for dishes that can use the cheezes. Individual opinions on the various cheezes will vary, but for an in-depth commentary on some of the cheeze recipes, check out this reviewer's comments on Amazon.

Scientists think that a vaccine against food allergies will be available within the next ten years. In the past, 1 in 70 people were reported to have food allergies to items like peanuts, tree nuts like Brazil nuts and cashews, and other serious food allergies. Then doctors started reporting numbers in the 1.6% range. Recently the numbers of people reporting food allergies seem to be in the 5% range. These numbers seem to be increasing, or are they?

Well food allergies may soon be a thing of the past. Scientists are on the verge of being able to create hypo-allergenic versions of the food molecules that cause allergies. These can then be combined with inflammation reducing compounds, to form a safe vaccine to use to desensitize people, and so prevent allergic response. It may take awhile, but our next generation of kids may not have to worry about what their friends are eating for lunch, or kissing someone who ate peanuts earlier that day.

Whole Foods has just put out a recall on its Whole Treat Organic Vanilla Ice Cream Bars Dipped in Chocolate due to undisclosed almonds. This isn't the first time Whole Foods has recalled an ice cream product due to undisclosed ingredients. Last August they issued a recall on their frozen chocolate and vanilla soy products that contained undeclared milk. In the past they have had other food recalls such as when jars labeled peanut butter actually contained almond butter, as well as a few others over the years.

I'm glad that companies are quick to make food recalls for allergies and possible contamination, such as the spinach scare of the last few months. People with allergies, young children, the elderly, those who are pregnant , and people with immune system problems should keep track of food recalls to stay safe. To stay abreast of allergy related food recalls you can visit the Food Allergy website and the Kids With Food Allergies website. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration site has up to date info on all types of food and drug recalls.

Back-to-school season means that more kids will be packing sandwiches with them on a daily basis and, more often than not, the sandwich of choice is peanut butter and jelly. Between nut allergies and simply growing bored with the same old sandwich, non-peanut butters are growing in popularity - which also means that they are more widely available than ever before. A few years ago, almond butter was relegated to health food stores, and now it appears on the regular shelf with cashew butter, soy butters and sunflower seed butter, which is completely nut-free for those with allergies.

These non-peanut butters can be substituted for peanut butter in more than just sandwiches. They make excellent cookies and work well in what would ordinarily be peanut flavored sauces and dressings. Most of the butters come in crunchy and smooth versions, as well.

Do you use non-peanut butters? If you can't find any at a store near your, you can try making your own cashew butter, but once you have a good source, you can branch out into other recipes. And don't forget to try them on toast or in pb&j!

The Seattle Times brought up a good point with an article about dealing with dietary restrictions in social situations. In restaurants, it is a relatively simple matter to let your waiter or the chef know that you have food allergies or would prefer to have your dish without, say, cilantro. But food issues can be more problematic when dining at the home of friends or acquaintances.

It is always acceptable to let people know when you have allergies - preferably in advance - but what about food preferences? Should you tell the host that you follow the Atkins diet and your significant other doesn't eat any dairy products and hates onions?

Unfortunately, there is no one real answer, but since most hosts and hostesses want people to enjoy the party and the food they prepare, it can be easier to mention some things up front, than to refuse all food at the dinner. As a general rule, it is a good idea to politely mention "big" things, such as whether you are a vegetarian or vegan, but if you really have a laundry list of foods you just don't like, be willing to compromise and pick some out. To play it safe, offer to bring a dish (or two), which will not only take pressure off the host/hostess, but will make sure there is something you can eat.

Anywhere from 1-6% of Britons suffer, to one degree or another, from an allergy to latex. The rubber-based product is used in several types of food packaging materials, including rubber bands, stickers and adhesives. Often, these products to not come into contact with food at all, but a recent study commissioned by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) found that in some cases the latex is transferred to the food. It can take as little 1 one billionth of a gram to trigger a latex allergy, so some groups, like the UK's Latex Allergy Support Group, are calling for a change in labeling guidelines to protect consumers.

The FSA has said that it is too soon to draw conclusions based on the results of one study. There is no information available yet on how many, if any, allergic reactions have actually been caused from a food-related exposure to latex.

A 19-year old South Carolina man died as a result of eating a batch of pancakes from an expired mix. It wasn't exactly the pancakes that killed him, though. He seems to have had an allergic reaction to a mold that grew in the mix.

As unfortunate as this story is, it can illustrate a valuable point to everyone about checking expiration dates, especially on things that have a long shelf life. While the ingredients, which in the case of pancake mixes consist primarily of flour, can last for a long time in a cool, dry place, unwanted things can develop over time. Sometimes a product can smell or look "off, though a potential problem may not be obvious to the naked eye. "Unseen molds can trigger both minor and severe allergic reactions, so it is best to throw out an old mix than to risk anaphylactic shock - especially if you are prone to allergies.

 Update: Link is now fixed