Five Guys' new peanut rule

pastoralia

Subject: Five Guys' new peanut rule

So I was in 5 Guys last night to pick up a nice hamburger for dinner and I noticed that the cardboard boxes which used to house their tasty peanuts had been replaced by a little pickle barrel with a lid.

A sticker on the barrel said (I'm paraphrasing): "Please do not take peanuts or peanut shells out of Five Guys, children in the neighborhood have peanut allergies."

WTF? If they are just trying to save some money be preventing people from leaving with armfuls of peanuts- that's fine but this whole "children have food allergies" crap is so Nanny Nation.

Seriously, that is so lame. Please tell me some fretting parent didn't breathlessly complain about her precious babies peanut allergy and that's where this all started from.

new2hood

I'm sure someone complained.

vidro3

i hate having consideration for other people. it's such bullshit.

new2hood

tell the kids to keep their allergic hands out of the peanut bucket. and if they're that allergic, don't eat Five Guys.

longtimesloper

Subject: Re: Five Guys' new peanut rule

pastoralia wrote: So I was in 5 Guys last night to pick up a nice hamburger for dinner and I noticed that the cardboard boxes which used to house their tasty peanuts had been replaced by a little pickle barrel with a lid.

A sticker on the barrel said (I'm paraphrasing): "Please do not take peanuts or peanut shells out of Five Guys, children in the neighborhood have peanut allergies."

WTF? If they are just trying to save some money be preventing people from leaving with armfuls of peanuts- that's fine but this whole "children have food allergies" crap is so Nanny Nation.

Seriously, that is so lame. Please tell me some fretting parent didn't breathlessly complain about her precious babies peanut allergy and that's where this all started from.

that's not new, that has been there since they opened. just to clarify, the sign has always been there, but the bucket is new.

longtimesloper

new2hood wrote: tell the kids to keep their allergic hands out of the peanut bucket. and if they're that allergic, don't eat Five Guys.

Umm, i think it is directed to taking peanuts OUT of 5 Guys, so, keeping kids allergic little hands out of the peanut bin has nothing to do with it.

new2hood

I stand corrected.

longtimesloper

I have a question, why are there so many kids with peanut allergies nowadays? Seriously, when I was a kid, i don't remember this going on. maybe a kid here or there, but, not as many as there are now. And, no, none of my kids have peanut allergies either.

Why is this such a new phenomenon? is it because so many parents nowadays shelter their babies and young children from so much that we are causing this??

thank goodness that 321 is NOT a peanut free school because considering the small amount of things my kids like to eat, fi I couldn't send PB&J sandwiches, they would starve! lol

lemur11215

I have also seen that sign at other Five Guys, not just the one in PS.

eggcream

Subject: Re: Five Guys' new peanut rule

pastoralia wrote:

A sticker on the barrel said (I'm paraphrasing): "Please do not take peanuts or peanut shells out of Five Guys, children in the neighborhood have peanut allergies."

What do they think people will do, throw them at the kids with peanut allergies? Watch out for their other products:

Peanuts and Peanut allergy questions

Q: What type of peanut oil does Five Guys use?

A: We use 100% peanut oil that is refined and contains only enough preservatives (less than .004%, so that the oil doesn't foam when we put our fries in!)

Q: Can a person with peanut allergies eat Five Guy fries?

A: Five Guys does use refined peanut oil, which is less likely than cold pressed oil to cause a reaction. However, all guests should consult their physicians before consumption and all guests need to be aware that we serve in-shell peanuts in bulk containers in all of our restaurants.

Q: Why can't we take peanuts outside?

A: Although it is rare that a casual encounter with peanuts will cause an allergic reaction, we want to limit the risk of someone unknowingly coming into contact with peanuts.

Q: If so many people are allergic to peanuts, why does Five Guys continue to offer them?

A: Over the past 20 years, peanuts have become part of the Five Guys identity. We by no means want to exclude guests from our store, but at the same time we would not want to disappoint our peanut eating guests. We make sure that we have signage on our doors and in our restaurants about the fact that we serve peanuts in bulk containers as we would never want someone to risk their health by coming into our restaurants.

toadette

LongTimeSloper wrote: I have a question, why are there so many kids with peanut allergies nowadays? Seriously, when I was a kid, i don't remember this going on. maybe a kid here or there, but, not as many as there are now. And, no, none of my kids have peanut allergies either.

Why is this such a new phenomenon? is it because so many parents nowadays shelter their babies and young children from so much that we are causing this??

Actually, I think a theory gaining some acceptance out there is kind of the opposite. I'm not a doctor, but I've read a few articles that suggest that certain foods eaten by a nursing mother can be passed on in breast milk; some of those foods are of the type that you are warned against (I think) feeding your child at too young an age because of the possiblity of sensitizing them and either creating an allergy or taking advantage of a slight predisposition to a food allergy. The theory is that that exposure to the foods at too young an age (because it came through the breast milk) is what is causing the allergies. And the number of breastfeeding mothers has been on the increase since the 70s, which means more kids now with allergies than in previous generations.

An article explaining the theory - http://www.webmd.com/news/20010403/peanut-allergy-may-be-triggered-by-breastfeeding

I remember this because I kind of feel like the theory may be responsible for my allergies; I'm allergic to two of my mom's favorite food categories, shellfish and tree nuts, and she told me she did eat lots of them when nursing. Anecdotal evidence, of course, but it helps me buy the theory.

eggcream

LongTimeSloper wrote:
Why is this such a new phenomenon? is it because so many parents nowadays shelter their babies and young children from so much that we are causing this??

From 2007 Newsweek:


But why do allergies appear to be on the rise? One of the most intriguing theories, dubbed the "hygiene hypothesis," is that we've all become too clean. The immune system is designed to battle dangerous foreign invaders like parasites and viruses and infections. But clean water, antibiotics and vaccines have eliminated some of our most toxic challenges. Intriguing research even posits that kids born by Caesarean section, which have risen 40 percent in the last decade, could be at higher risk for allergies, perhaps because they were never exposed to healthy bacteria in their mothers' birth canals. Without hard-core adversaries, the theory goes, the immune system starts battling the innocuous—egg or wheat—instead.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/62296/page/1

opossumqueen

Artificial Selection! We can now save people's lives much more often than we used to, so formerly fatal problems can now be passed on and spread.

Okay, this doesn't really apply to the peanut allergy from what I know, but I had to say it.

baby fishmouth

I'm curious about the link between allergies and breastfeeding, because I think it makes sense in some ways, but I know a kid with severe allergies (can't even be in the same room as a peanut, or he'll stop breathing) and he was adopted at birth by a gay male couple, so therefore, did no breastfeeding. (Although the baby went straight for my jugs the first time he met me - I was sorry to tell him the buffet was not open for business.)

jeffrey

toadette

Baby Fishmouth wrote: I'm curious about the link between allergies and breastfeeding, because I think it makes sense in some ways, but I know a kid with severe allergies (can't even be in the same room as a peanut, or he'll stop breathing) and he was adopted at birth by a gay male couple, so therefore, did no breastfeeding. (Although the baby went straight for my jugs the first time he met me - I was sorry to tell him the buffet was not open for business.)

I don't think anyone is saying that breastfeeding (or cleanliness or any other theory out there) is the only cause of allergies, but just that it is an additional potential cause. Some folks were presumably just born allergic to stuff.

homeowner

60 Minutes ran a piece on feeding starving children in sub-saharan Africa. A researcher developed a protein paste that can be fed to children that are extremely malnourished. Within a week on this stuff the kids show remarkable improvements. The paste is made from peanut oil and is almost like a peanut butter. The interviewer asked about peanut allergies and the researcher replied that they had come across no kids that had peanut allergies AT ALL.

Here is an article on Plumpynut

carnivore

Chris Rock wrote: We got so much food in America we're allergic to food. Allergic to food! Hungry people ain't allergic to shit. You think anyone in Rwanda's got a fucking lactose intolerance?!

dailyheights

I will tell you what I have recently learned about this.

**VERY INTERESTING AND NEW: Some studies now suggest that avoiding oral exposure to peanuts early in life--as experts have been recommending for the past 20 years or so--could be a risk factor in developing allergy to peanut. Up until 2008, the guidelines of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which is the gospel for the pediatricians who treat your kids, were saying to avoid peanut early on in life, despite any evidence to support that practice. And now it turns out that this practice could have been causing more allergies.

I love this complete "about face" on what we know is healthy, because it's just like the Woody Allen movie Sleeper:

Dr. Melik: This morning for breakfast he requested something called "wheat germ, organic honey and tiger's milk."
Dr. Aragon: [chuckling] Oh, yes. Those are the charmed substances that some years ago were thought to contain life-preserving properties.
Dr. Melik: You mean there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies or... hot fudge?
Dr. Aragon: Those were thought to be unhealthy... precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true.
Dr. Melik: Incredible.

dailyheights

Some other risk factors for food allergy development include --

*Early exposure to antibiotics, in first year of life particularly
*Exposure to antacids and other antireflux medications that interfere with digestion of proteins
*Processing of peanut - dry roasting exposes the allergens in a more allergenic way, for some reason
*I've been told there is no evidence that maternal diet increases risk of allergies, except for one potential factor: the amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids consumed. Bottom line: fish oil good, bad fats bad. People have been eating more bad fats, so that might be causing more allergies.
*Breast feeding is still thought to be good because it exposes lymphoid tissue in the gut to "good" bacteria that may be protective against allergy development.

santa

i was there yesterday and I didnt read the whole sign. I thought it was because people were throwing peanut shells on the sidewalk outside.

whatevs

the chipster

Hygiene Hypothosis is real. Please read up.
Many childrens allergies are OVERDIAGNOSED. Kids grow out of em, if you give them a chance. Instead, neurotic parents have forced the world arond them to change by playing "The Peanut Card."

voodoonyc

dailyheights wrote:
Dr. Melik: This morning for breakfast he requested something called "wheat germ, organic honey and tiger's milk."
Dr. Aragon: [chuckling] Oh, yes. Those are the charmed substances that some years ago were thought to contain life-preserving properties.
Dr. Melik: You mean there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies or... hot fudge?
Dr. Aragon: Those were thought to be unhealthy... precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true.
Dr. Melik: Incredible.

This is one of my absolute favorite pieces of dialog from a movie.

jimmy

Subject: Re: Five Guys' new peanut rule

pastoralia wrote: WTF? If they are just trying to save some money be preventing people from leaving with armfuls of peanuts- that's fine but this whole "children have food allergies" crap is so Nanny Nation.

Um, for starters, you're talking about Park Slope, home to the most overprotective, self-indulgent populace east of Hollywood, which encompasses a lot, which is then "mayored" by Captain Nanny himself, Mike Bloomberg. Do you really expect not to be treated like you're a small child?

eggcream

The Chipster wrote: Hygiene Hypothosis is real. Please read up.
Many childrens allergies are OVERDIAGNOSED. Kids grow out of em, if you give them a chance. Instead, neurotic parents have forced the world arond them to change by playing "The Peanut Card."

I was speaking to a friend and they said pretty much the same thing. That and the fear of lawsuits have people like Five Guys putting up these signs.

whynot_31

it also has food manufacturers writing "may contain nuts" on everything.

...including products that have no nuts (because they would rather lose the business of the people who have nut allegies than have their business)

...and things that are obviously nuts (Caution this bag of peanuts may contain nuts. Because the fear of being sued has reached the insanity level)

And my personal favorite: "Silca gel, do not eat".
For all those people who thought maybe a tasty snack has been packed in with their new pair of shoes.

voodoonyc

vidro3

whynot_31 wrote: it also has food manufacturers writing "may contain nuts" on everything.

...including products that have no nuts (because they would rather lose the business of the people who have nut allegies than have their business)

...and things that are obviously nuts (Caution this bag of peanuts may contain nuts. Because the fear of being sued has reached the insanity level)

And my personal favorite: "Silca gel, do not eat".
For all those people who thought maybe a tasty snack has been packed in with their new pair of shoes.

airlines too, they have to declare certain flight peanut free. a friend of my parents has a child who has severe reactions to even the smell of peanuts. The mother flipped out on a plane when they were handing out peanuts. a few hundred open bags plus the recycled air would have killed her son.

strange but true.

whynot_31

...I have no doubt peanut allegies are real, and feel for the parents. I've got a 10 y/o nephew who carries an epi-pen due to a peanut allergy.

My amusement is at the bizarre effects of our litigious society.

...it seems to make it very difficult to run an airline, or even a pizza place.

or at the extreme, distribute inedible silca gel or hot coffee without warning labels.

bkchickie

Baby Fishmouth wrote: I'm curious about the link between allergies and breastfeeding, because I think it makes sense in some ways, but I know a kid with severe allergies (can't even be in the same room as a peanut, or he'll stop breathing) and he was adopted at birth by a gay male couple, so therefore, did no breastfeeding. (Although the baby went straight for my jugs the first time he met me - I was sorry to tell him the buffet was not open for business.)

Oh goodness, some conservative's gonna read your post and blame that kid's allergies on his gay parents.

I have a shellfish allergy. It's clearly hereditary in my case.

willregistersoon

VoodooNYC wrote: [quote=dailyheights]
Dr. Melik: This morning for breakfast he requested something called "wheat germ, organic honey and tiger's milk."
Dr. Aragon: [chuckling] Oh, yes. Those are the charmed substances that some years ago were thought to contain life-preserving properties.
Dr. Melik: You mean there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies or... hot fudge?
Dr. Aragon: Those were thought to be unhealthy... precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true.
Dr. Melik: Incredible.

This is one of my absolute favorite pieces of dialog from a movie.

Woody Allen?