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Warning! There are nuts in peanuts

vrDrew said:
Technically a peanut isn't actually a nut at all: its a legume or "bean."
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And that is the big distinction. Since they are technically different things, the allergies that people have to them are going to be different. Since production of some nuts can happen in the same plants that peanut products are produced in (they are commonly in the same products or you have companies that make products separately but produce them in the same plant for cost reasons).

Peanut allergies are a serious thing and that's why you label them on products that contain non-peanuts - they are typically made in the same plants. Just calling them nuts just isn't enough.
 
AlphaDogg said:
Ok, I was wrong about the epipen. However, that does not change the fact that a peanut allergy is potentially fatal while pet/dander allergies are not. To those who say a pet allergy is as bad as a peanut allergy, you are biased due to your own circumstances. I, personally, do not have a single food allergy or pet allergy, but I have family members who suffer from both. Thus, I believe myself to be impartial to the argument.

My brother almost died from ingesting something containing peanuts, and my parents' sinuses are affected greatly when in the presence of pet dander. Which is worse? I think you know.
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I've not questioned that a potentially fatal allergy is more serious than a non-potentially fatal one. As I alluded to in my previous post, airlines doing what they can to minimise the risk of a passenger dying on their flight due to a nut allergy is a sensible and necessary thing to do.
 
Plutonius said:
...
As far as changing seats in the plane, there was a story last year (or the year before) of a passenger with cat allergies being seated next to someone with a cat. They air crew refused to move anyone even after being made aware of the extreme cat alleges and the passenger required medical assistance when the plan reached it's destination.....
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That is unacceptable, and hopefully a rare story. I suspect if more people with animal allergies sitting next to an animal demanded medical treatment while the plane was in flight - forcing an expensive (for the airline) unscheduled landing - flight attendants might be trained to take this situation more seriously. With the right insurance in place, it might even be a fun way for the patient/passenger to see a city not on the regular itinerary. ;)

This is why we don't fly budget airlines, by the way. You may pay more on a standard airline - but in our experience once you get past the 'put the fun into flying - keep 'em entertained' training of the budget carriers then the career staff at a regular price airline starts to look pretty good. imho, of course. And not trying to sidetrack this discussion.
 
afd said:
BBC reporting that peanuts had to be withdrawn because they contain peanuts.

Nuts. Just nuts.
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Your thread title is wrong. Peanuts are not nuts. And I actually know someone who has severe nut allergies but is absolutely fine with peanuts or cocoanuts (which are both not nuts). If there were in nuts in peanuts (which shouldn't be there), that would be dangerous for her.
 
TBH, I don't know if I've ever heard the term "Monkey Nuts" before. At least in reference to unshelled peanuts.

If the bag was opaque, I might not immediately know they were peanuts.
 
rovex said:
So a vegetable. Well tomato is a fruit, but does anyone actually consider it as such?
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Pres Reagan considered using ketchup as a serving of vegetables.

And in 1981 said..."Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do"

Of course, he couldn't hit the floor with his hat...:rolleyes:
 
Shrink said:
Pres Reagan considered using ketchup as a serving of vegetables.

And in 1981 said..."Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do"

Of course, he couldn't hit the floor with his hat...:rolleyes:
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Great, now they are moving this to PRSI. ;):D
 
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Shrink said:
Pres Reagan considered using ketchup as a serving of vegetables.

And in 1981 said..."Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do"

Of course, he couldn't hit the floor with his hat...:rolleyes:
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He said something similar about Mt. St. Helena. A preposterous assertion, but the point wasn't to be accurate, for sure.

And BTW, pizza counts as a servng of vegetables in schools these days...
 
AlphaDogg said:
My brother almost died from ingesting something containing peanuts, and my parents' sinuses are affected greatly when in the presence of pet dander. Which is worse? I think you know.
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Some people's sinuses are affected by peanuts (it doesn't kill everyone that has an allergy to it). What is your point ? Pet dander can be just as dangerous over an extended period to some people. The difference is the time it takes with peanuts being immediate and pet dander being over an extended period.
 
AlphaDogg said:
I'm pretty sure that's not true.
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And why do you believe it isn't true ? All as you have to do is a search on the internet to see it is true.

1) Look for the word peanut and allergy in here.

2) Also look here to see that only 150 people / year in the US out of 3.3 million people with peanut allergies actual die from contact with peanuts. I'm not trying to downplay the seriousness of the peanut allergy but I'm trying to show you how all allergies vary from sinus irritation to a medical emergency (including peanuts).
 
How is this ridiculous?

Peanuts are not nuts. Being allergic to nuts and being allergic to peanuts is not the same thing. Picking up a bag of nuts that doesn't say it has peanuts in it can be a fatal mistake. Of course they are going to recall the product.
 
AlphaDogg said:
I'm pretty sure that's not true.
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My stepfather is allergic to peanuts and cashews. The symptoms he gets if he eats them are not life-threatening, they're much closer to what someone who's lactose intolerant might experience if they drink milk. So yeah, it's true - not all peanut allergies are life-threatening.

I also have a food allergy. It's my responsibility to manage it, not the world's.
 
swedishpenguin said:
Peanuts are not nuts. Being allergic to nuts and being allergic to peanuts is not the same thing. Picking up a bag of nuts that doesn't say it has peanuts in it can be a fatal mistake. Of course they are going to recall the product.
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Indeed. I have no problem at all with peanuts -- I love peanut butter and will eat it plain off the spoon if I have no bread to spread it on. But I have a mild sensitivity to certain nuts. Eating macadamia nuts for example will cause the back of my throat to get quite itchy.
 

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T'hain Esh Kelch said:
In the culinary sense a peanut is still a nut.
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And in a correct sense...it's a legume.

You can dance around that any way you want...culinary sense, common usage sense, label on the container sense...it still ain't a nut.:rolleyes:

:D

T'hain Esh Kelch said:
In the culinary sense a peanut is still a nut.

(I admit defeat!)
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The actions of a truly honorable person!:D
 
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T'hain Esh Kelch said:
In the culinary sense a peanut is still a nut.
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So does that mean a donut is a nut? What if it has been fried in ground nut oil?

Normally, I'd go with common usage over scientific pedantry (it makes life so much simpler to keep rigorously defined scientific terms in Latin, Greek, Elvish or Klingon and not overload everyday words) but the distinction (and associated chemical difference) is rather important to peanut allergy sufferers.

You really don't want to die of etymology.
(Or entomology for that matter).
 
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