New peanut butter Cheerios triggers anger from parents

[_Kissy_]

New peanut butter Cheerios triggers anger from parentsPublished Yesterday

Janice D'Arcyfor The Washington Post

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Cheerios has just launched a new flavor — peanut butter — and the reaction in some homes has not been what the company might have expected.

“People are very upset about it,” said Gina Clowes, founder of Allergy Moms, a national support group.

“I know some allergy families that currently buy Cheerios are vowing not to buy them at all for fear of cross contact while processing and to avoid confusion in their own homes.”

It seems that although the new flavor’s box makes it clear that these are a new kind of Cheerios, the cereal itself is hard to distinguish from the original. This issue is especially troubling to parents because Cheerios are so often carted in baggies by toddlers who share them freely.

“It has become the norm to have toddlers walking around with bags of cereal to snack on,” Clowes said. “Toddlers are notoriously messy eaters. It [would] be difficult to distinguish this variety from ones that are ‘safe’ and one misplaced peanut butter Cheerio can cause a serious reaction.”

I called the Cheerios media relations staff and am awaiting a reply.

Many parents who do not have an allergy-suffering child might roll their eyes at the concern. But allergies can be terribly severe.

Just last week, a Virginia first-grader died after a friend shared a peanut with her on the playground.

A well-regarded national study published in the journal Pediatrics this past summer estimated that 8 percent of children — that’s 5.9 million kids — suffer from food allergies.

The report also found that close to 40 percent of those children suffer severe reactions.

Though it remains unclear why the food allergies have spread and intensified in recent years, any parent of an allergy-sufferer knows that weathering a child’s food sensitivities is frightening terrain.

Given the modern ubiquity of allergies, do manufacturers of children’s food have an extra responsibility to be sensitive to food allergies?

If so, how?

[_Kissy_]

Good Gawd. Really? Do parents not know there is already cereal that is made from peanut butter? I guess its just easier to hold the world hostage with kids allergies. Don't buy the crap..

[fatcat0908]

Cross contamination...really because they have been making Honey NUT Cheerios for almost a half century now!

[krissygirl]

I don't know about this one. I understand where the parents are coming from but at the same time not everyone who eats cheerios has an allergy. They are not a school but a corporation serving a variety of consumers. FYI: my brother has allergies so I would want to make sure they are not manufactoring these peanut butter cheerios with the others. What about honey nut cheerios?

[_Kissy_]

My kids school serves Reeses peanut butter cereal. But there is also other cereal for people with nut, gluten, dairy, ect..if they have allergies

[beaniedeebo]

 bahahahahahhahahhahah........

[MrsSamMerlotte]

lmao no kidding!

eta: apparently peanuts arent nuts at all and I just didnt know that.  Oops.

Quoting fatcat0908:

Cross contamination...really because they have been making Honey NUT Cheerios for almost a half century now!

[lynnd4]

I understand the concern since my son can't eat anything that has been processed on equipment that's used eggs. We simply don't but it. Teaching a young child Cherrios are no longer safe would be difficult but necessary. It can be frustrating when a once safe food becomes unsafe. When I see a plate of eggs, sometimes I think death on a platter. Strange I know, but to these parent's its death in a baggie.

[jehosoba84]

 I admit I rolled my eyes at first, but the parent do have a good point.

It seems that although the new flavor’s box makes it clear that these are a new kind of Cheerios, the cereal itself is hard to distinguish from the original. This issue is especially troubling to parents because Cheerios are so often carted in baggies by toddlers who share them freely.

 

 

[TCgirlatheart]

If there really can be cross "contamination", so to speak, I can understand their concern.  I'm so thankful that, so far, we don't have any food allergies.  

[TCgirlatheart]

Doh!  Good point, I forgot about those.  

Quoting fatcat0908:

Cross contamination...really because they have been making Honey NUT Cheerios for almost a half century now!