Mayo Clinic Minute: How to keep kids with food allergies safe during Halloween

There are monsters and masks, superheroes and surprises. But for some kids, it’s the foods that can cause the fright – not the Halloween haunts.

Dr. Arveen Bhasin (Bah-seen), a Mayo Clinic allergy specialist, says the nine most common food allergens include eggs, milk, soy, wheat, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish and sesame. Some of those can be found in popular Halloween candies. And knowing which candies can have potential allergens can be tough.

But since 2014, the Teal Pumpkin Project has made it easier for parents to identify houses that have safe alternatives for trick-or-treaters with food allergies. If there’s a teal pumpkin outside the door, kids might find stickers, pencils or erasers instead of candy. So this Halloween, let the spiders and cemeteries do the scaring – not the sweets.
____________________________________________
For the safety of its patients, staff and visitors, Mayo Clinic has strict masking policies in place. Anyone shown without a mask was recorded prior to COVID-19 or recorded in an area not designated for patient care, where social distancing and other safety protocols were followed.

FOR THE PUBLIC: More health and medical news on the Mayo Clinic News Network. https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/

FOR THE MEDIA ONLY: Register at https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/re… to access clean and nat sound versions of this video on the Mayo Clinic News Network. https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/

Mayo Clinic https://mayocl.in/3tNMAdF Follow Mayo Clinic on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mayoclinic/ Like Mayo Clinic on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ Follow Mayo Clinic on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MayoClinic