PAFAP meeting in Japan

What a great joy it was to be able to attend one of the meetings/cooking lessons in Tokyo, Japan!

Parents' Association for Food Allergic Patients (PAFAP, in Japanese) has organized a meeting with two lectures and a seasonal cooking lesson.

1. PAFAP founder Ms.Takeuchi prepared a powerpoint lecture on how to read food information labels.

She has been involved with the administrations in setting up the regulations, has been a great advocate and had been leading food allergy support groups for many years. She shared how she is proud that the "may contain" message is eliminated and is illegal in Japan, so that people are not turned away from trying things that "may contain" certain items. Also shared were specific dairy, egg, wheat names and how they can come in different forms and also be hidden, not expressively written - must be very hard for travelers - it's even impossible for Japanese if we don't have these knowledge to accurately know what's in a product!

2. The next lecture was from Nippon Ham, a big national company that produces lots of meat/ham products.

She shared how corporates developed and uses tests so that they can meet the labeling regulations set (and to be tightened further) in recent years. She also shared their allergy efforts, which has originated about 6 years ago in response to consumers voice. Now they have some fine products that are safe and widely available. Very visual and informative, and what was nice was to know that corporates actually do try to listen and cooperate with consumers! This was an area I tended to stay away - calling up companies to check the ingredients, production process, telling our wishes, etc. Certainly felt empowered that it's OK to do so, and even more so, welcomed to do so (hope it's true in the US as well. Any experiences out there?)

3. We had a cooking lesson from a professional nutritionist from a big school who was invited to come over on a 3 hour bullet train ride from the west side of Japan!! Ms. Noda incorporated the Girls Festiveal (March 3rd) theme into the lesson, and out came a really cute, and very yummy product:) More photos and details (i.e. recipi) to follow some other time if I can get permission to share them.

Just wanted to share the excitement - I'm certainly inspired to get this blogsite going a bit more. I am certainly in awe seeing/meeting these pioneers with so much energy they can move the administration and corporations. Thanks to their work in the past, I have so much more choices to feed my child today.

They have asked if I could share some experience/information from living in the US, and I hope FAAN will let me translate some of their articles. Hopefully I'll be able to do it the other way around (share some info on PAFAP's newsletter in English here) as well.

Cheri Golub Says:
February 27, 2010 at 7:10 am

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to let you know of some upcoming dates. The 3rd annual FAAN Walk for Food Allergy in Long Branch, NJ has been scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 11, 2010 (registration begins at 9am and the Walk starts at 10am). The Walk will once again take place at the Great Lawn just north of Pier Village. We are in the planning stages for the Walk right now but we’ll be announcing some exciting events/performances happening at this year’s Walk. mr. RAY will be returning to perform this year but he’ll be bringing some suprise guests with him. Also, Janice Lieberman will be the emcee for the Walk. Ms. Lieberman has been the featured Consumer Smarts correspondent on NBC’s “Today Show” for ten years and was previously the consumer correspondent on “Good Morning America”. Lieberman also anchored “Steals and Deals”, which appeared nightly on CNBC.

You can register for the Walk by visiting http://www.foodallergywalk.org and selecting the Long Branch, NJ location.

We have also planned another food allergy awareness day & peanut- and nut-free baseball game with the Lakewood BlueClaws. This is sheduled for Sunday, June 6th at 1:05 pm. Tickets are $10 each. In an effort to help protect allergic fans and in honor of all individuals with food allergies, the BlueClaws will have ingredients list available for every food item sold. That day, all items sold at the concession stands will be peanut- and tree nut-free. Seats will be washed down prior to the game to ensure that there will be no food residue. Fans are advised to arrive early as this will also be Kids Expo and Zoo Claws Day, which will feature music, fun, games, and more. This day is also Kids Character Sunday and Kids Eat Free Sunday. mr. RAY, children's singer/songwriter will perform during the seventh- inning stretch and will throw out the first pitch.

***We are also looking for volunteers for both events. Please let us know if you are interested. FAAN is participating in an exciting volunteer program with Disney Parks called “Give a Day, Get a Day”. One day of volunteer work can get you one free day at one of the Disney Parks.***

For more information about the Walk or to purchase tickets for the BlueClaws game, please contact:

Cherﾃｭ Golub
Walk chairperson
FAAN Walk for Food Allergy ~ Long Branch, NJ ~ Sept. 11, 2010
http://www.foodallergywalk.org
E-mail: longbranchchair@foodallergy.org
Phone: 732.239.8374

LonelyPlate.org

Sharing yet one more note that came around via our local mailing list. I'm sure Sharona, the original writer wouldn't mind the publicity! Check out the website (www.lonelyplate.org) and post a review of businesses you've visited!

Greetings Support Group Leaders, To introduce myself, up until a year and a half ago, I was News Coverage Manager at CNN's Washington Bureau where beyond my daily news responsibilities I produced many stories on food allergies with chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. You can find online some of the TV transcripts and CNN.com articles I wrote on the subject, including a report on Sabrina Shannon, which won a number of journalism awards, including from FAAN. I became interested in the subject after my daughter was diagnosed with multiple food allergies (at the time, allergic to all major allergens + a few). I'm writing you as I'm in the process of launching a website where families with food allergic kids/parents can write reviews about restaurants they visit. There are fantastic online resources reviewing restaurants and hotels, (Tripadvisor, Yelp, VirtualTourist, etc.) but because I couldn't find any that consolidated the experiences of those with food allergies, I decided to create an interactive database where we can review restaurants, hotels, airlines, and kid-friendly venues (like Disney). Wouldn't it be great to give a shout out to a place that did a great job helping your child have a safe meal, or warn others of a place to stay away from at all cost? The web address is www.lonelyplate.org. I'm asking friends and food allergy support group members to publish the first posts or send me (so I can post for them) reviews of businesses they've visited. This kind of information-sharing is crucial not only to keep each other safe but also can be a message to restaurants that we are a consumer community worth catering to. Among the Washington, D.C. support group members, we have been exchanging this kind of information for years (as I know many of you do in your locales), but we never shared this information with food allergic families in other cities and countries, something I aim to accomplish. Looking forward to hearing from you. I'd appreciate it if you could distribute this email to your group members. Best wishes, Sharona Schwartz

Volunteer to speak at a PSD School Board Meeting

Catherine is soliciting volunteers to speak at the Poudre School District School Board Meetings. For more information, please contact her as well as check out the PSD website: psdschools.org click on Board of Education

Dear Members, Attached is an update on Poudre School District School Board Meeting speaking schedule. We are slowly filling spots. My goal is to have 1 parent speak with each Dr. that signs up. Currently, I have 1 Dr. that I would like to match with a parent. The speaking schedule was created to inform School Board about food allergies. An educated School Board can make better decisions.... Thank you, Catherine

Advocating for Food Allergy Management in Poudre School District RE:

Implementation of SB09-226

Why it is important to Poudre School District School Board Meetings 6:30 pm Boardroom Johansen Support Services Center 2407 LaPorte Ave.

Tuesday March 23-

Doctor: Dr. Kujawska/Someone HERE?

Tuesday April 27- Doctor: Dr. James/Parent: R.T. *

Please watch for changes in meeting schedule via: psdschools.org click on Board of Education

Congratulations Amy!

A message from Catherine:

Dear Members,

Amy Asher RN for Poudre School District was awarded the FAAN scholarship to attend the National School Nurse Conference in Chicago in June! If she is your school nurse or you know her give her a CONGRATULAIONS and thank you for taking the time to learn more about managing food allergies in school!

From Catherine