Hello…

Dear readers, I do confess, it’s been seven months since my last posting… What can I say, other than a demented 18-month-old, a four-going-on-14-year-old and the paid work I can squeeze into the moments when they are both asleep (ha!) mean I have reluctantly neglected my station?

There’s been so much I’ve wanted to blog about, too. This has been the Year of the Allergy Mama on a Mission. Our grassroots campaign to fight Alpro’s decision to merge nut and soya milk production and slap a ‘may contain nuts’ warning on all their soya products resulted in victory when they backtracked and agreed to keep the lot, bar chilled yoghurts, free from cross contamination.

Alpro – get yer nuts off our soya – UPDATE

JUST A QUICK update on our campaign to keep nut traces out of Alpro soya products. If you haven’t had a moment to ‘like’ our Facebook page here, please do – and if you haven’t had a moment to email Alpro and ask them to rethink their plans, please do that as well (there’s a template letter you can cut and paste from the Facebook campaign page.)

And if you haven’t had a moment to post your displeasure on Alpro’s own Facebook page here please do that as well as well!

Alpro – get yer nuts off our soya

I’LL KEEP this one short(ish) and not very sweet. You’ve no doubt heard of Alpro, one of the leading purveyors of soya stuff, from milk to yoghurts, cream and custard. For kids battling dairy allergy their calcium enriched products are a staple part of their daily diet. In fact, Alpro is on the list of brands recommended to dairy allergic kids by specialist dieticians and allergists.

As of 2014, Alpro has decided to integrate the production of its nut and soya factories, and slap a “may contain traces of nuts” warning on ALL of its soya products.

Don’t discontinue the chocolate!

So, I’ve just come back from my second day at the Allergy and Free From Show at Olympia. The last time I was there was 15 years ago for Erotica ’97 – my boyfriend at the time worked for a porn mag, I’m afraid. How things change, eh?

I’m gearing up for a bit of a blog rant about the show, so I’ll save that for now. But this afternoon I came across the Kinnerton confectionery stall and, for the first time, their Luxury Belgian Milk Chocolate bars.

Unfortunately, just as I find them it seems they’re being taken away. The egg, nut and gluten free choc tastes delicious – but it’s now been discontinued. Apparently stockists (i.e. the big supermarkets) weren’t displaying them where people could find them. As a result, nobody knew they existed, sales were low and they’ve been forced to ditch the line. Which is such a shame as these are perfect for the very many kids and adults with nut, egg and gluten allergies out there.

I bulk bought as many as I could reasonably see us eating by the ‘best before’ in Feb 2013 – but I hereby attempt to mount a campaign to Bring the Chocolate Back. They tell me if enough people lobby them for the bars’ return they will consider reviving them. There are so few allergy friendly chocolates out there – particularly nut allergy friendly – that I’d be overjoyed to have it them production. So I’m starting a petition – will you join me by signing it here?