Health and cakey strike again..

[Gob]

Stunned members of a women's group hit out at health and safety chiefs today after they were banned from baking homemade cakes for their own coffee afternoon.

The Adlington and District Millennium Committee planned to entice the public to a meeting at their local library later this week.

But volunteers nearly choked on their speciality scones when they were told their cakes were a health and safety hazard.

Adlington Library has told members they can only sell produce bought from a shop.



Jeanette Lowe, secretary of the committee, said: 'It’s absolutely ridiculous. We’ve had no problems with this before. It’s health and safety gone mad.'

The problem arose after the committee organised a coffee afternoon at the library, in Adlington, Lancashire, and were told they could only provide shop-bought cakes and biscuits.

Miss Lowe, from Nightingale Street, Adlington, whose speciality is chocolate cake, added: 'We have to leave the packaging out so that people can check for nuts. But shop-bought cakes just don’t have the same appeal.

'It really encourages people to attend these sort of events when they know they’ll be greeted with a nice homemade scone.'

The group, which consists of 10 retired female volunteers, usually uses community centres to hold fundraising events, where no such restrictions apply.

They have now vowed not to use the library again.

One member, Rita Ward, 72, from Adlington, said: 'It’s a sad state that we’re in when someone at the top says no, and we have to fall in line like a stack of dominoes. That’s how I feel. It’s just beyond belief.'

Another of the committee’s members who worked in the health and safety sector for 20 years before she retired, termed the decision a 'sign on the times'.

Ann Shires, 63, from Heath Charnock, said: 'It’s nothing like it used to be now; it’s horrifically going wrong.

'As a grandparent, I’m now more aware of all these rules. It’s a sign of the times.'

Edna Woodrow, from Rawlinson Lane, Heath Charnock, who makes the group’s millionaire’s shortbread, was shocked to discover she could not bake for the event.

'I was really taken aback. I could understand if they didn’t want any food in the library, but to say we can only have shop-bought products is a bit over the top,' she said.

A member of staff at Adlington Library, which is abiding by rules set out by Lancashire County Council, said: 'It’s a shame, but I can understand that local authorities have to be careful.'

And she said shop-bought items where the packaging had been opened had to be thrown away.

Julie Bell, head of Lancashire County Council’s Library and Information Service, said: 'We do not have kitchen facilities where food can be prepared, and though we know home-cooked baking often tastes better than the commercially prepared kind, legal restrictions mean we can only allow packaged goods with clearly labelled ingredients.'

The coffee afternoon is being held on Friday between 2pm and 4pm.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z10IS9TurD

[kristina]

good grief...

[Guinevere]

No homemade cakes and cookies for birthdays in schools, either. But honestly, one of my boys has a nut allergy so I get it now. You have to take these measures for the protection of those people. So it goes. The world won't end because of it, but someone's life could (or could be pretty damn compromised).

[SisterMaryFellatio]

lmao....health and Safety..what a pile of shite eating homemade produce is far better than opening a packet of Mr Kiplings with all the additives, preservatives and flavour enhancers!!

[Guinevere]

Try saying that when you have a kid with nut allergies. Of course homemade is likely better quality. but it.very well may not be safer.

[Gob]

If you have a kid with allergies, no one is allowed to make home made cake for sale?

Jesus, that's a bit tough.

Why not just ban kids with allergies from eating homemade cake?

[@meric@nwom@n]

If you have a kid with allergies, no one is allowed to make home made cake for sale?

Jesus, that's a bit tough.

Why not just ban kids with allergies from eating homemade cake?

Because now the nut allergy brigade rules all.

[Guinevere]

Jesus that's a bit tough? Are you kidding me? Look at the comment in this thread -- they say it all ----- Sorry, but tough nouggies, feed your kid homemade cake at home. I'm not going to let *your* lack of caring, awareness or interest harm *my* kid.

Some kids have such severe allergies that being around someone who has eaten nuts, touching their hand or skin, can transfer the oils and cause a reaction (and no, I'm not going to rely on your six-year-old to wash his hands, either). Hell the dog can't even eat food with peanut husks (a common by-product in dog food), because a lick could be deadly.

[tyro]

You can go to a grocery store, pick up almost any package of baked goods and read if it does or even if it might contain traces of nuts. Still these items are being sold without outcries.

They even make this horrid paste out of mushed-up peanuts and spread it onto bread as some shocking excuse of a sandwich for their children to take to school and ---gasp--- eat in the presence of other children.

So if I make a bunch of scones and I can’t attest that there are absolutely free of nuts, I would say so. In fact, common sense would tell anyone that homemade goods are almost certainly prepared in an area where there are nuts and therefore items to avoid if one is allergic.

Surly this is the message that people at risk must be taught, if you don’t know it is clean then it isn’t.

In the meantime, store bought baked goods (there is an oxymoron) don’t interest me at all. And for the mass majority of us, are almost certainly less healthy than homemade.

[Guinevere]

In fact, there are peanut-free classrooms where no, kids cannot bring peanut butter sandwiches, or any peanut products. There are peanut free lunch rooms, or, in some cases, peanut free tables where you have to sit if you cannot be near peanut products. There are also peanut only tables, depending on the age of the school and the number of kids with allergies.

NO ONE is stating that peanut products can't be sold tyro, what a ridiculous red herring that is. There is a HUGE world of difference between a packaged product, staying in its packaging, at the store, and cake and cupcakes and cookies being handed around in elementary school and then kid eating those products and interacting with kids who have peanut allergies, leaving residue on desks, chairs, playgrounds, etc. Or sharing a cookie with a friend. Or getting someone's cupcake mixed up.

I'm really astounded at the tone and lack of empathy here. I hope none of you have loved-ones with potentially deadly conditions. Certainly my boys are worth a hell of a lot more than some ground up peanuts on a slab of bread. Sad that you all can't see that.

[Gob]

Jesus that's a bit tough? Are you kidding me? Look at the comment in this thread -- they say it all ----- Sorry, but tough nouggies, feed your kid homemade cake at home. I'm not going to let *your* lack of caring, awareness or interest harm *my* kid.

.

I'll ask again, why should everybody suffer because your kid has an allergy? You don't want your kid to eat charity shop homemade cakes, that's fine. I hope you educate any allergic kids properly so as they do not buy cake from anything other than safe sellers.

Since the early 1900's the WI and other charitable institutions have made and sold cakes and other treats to raise funds for charity. Now all that has to stop in case someone with an allergy buys one?

Give me a break here.

[dales]

Not nuts here!

(OR ANYTHING ELSE FOR THAT MATTER)

[Guinevere]

Gob reread my posts as it seems you have entirely missed the point.

[Gob]

Guin, I understand that you are concerned and rightfully so, but am I wrong in believing you are arguing that no cakes should be sold by charities?

If I am wrong I apologise.

[tyro]

Guinevere,

I’m not trying to be dismissive about the plight of people with allergies to items in food.

What I was trying to say is that the world cannot play watchdog for everyone else. Peanuts and peanut butter are so ubiquitous, especially with the young, that children with such allergies must know better than to eat baked goods without some clear indication that they are nut free.

But in addition, this (the op) was a gathering of adults (was it not?) and it was about they being told not to bring their goodies to these meetings.

Meetings with other adults I would assume.



I have taken homemade baked goods to work that either I or my wife made for more than 30 years and the reaction has always been more enthusiastic than it is when someone brings in something in a commercial looking box.

This is a side of life that we don’t want to lose.

On the other hand, if I had a child that was deathly allergic to nuts as I guess yours is, I might see the other side with far greater clarity.


I’m sorry if I seemed insensitive.

[SisterMaryFellatio]

Can't even be arsed to comment!!

[Reality Bytes]

Theres a simple solution surely? Just put up a notice saying these cakes may contain traces of nuts - end of problem.

[loCAtek]

True, then it may turn into Californiamania where there's a sign on every bench, post and window.

Some real signs;

'This establishment serve products which may contain carcinogens.' (coffee)

'This garden is watered with non-potable water.' (I guess if you were thinking of drinking from the sprinkler head.)

"WARNING: our beverages may cause intoxication, addiction, and birth defects." (wherever alcohol is sold)

...and every where else;

"This area contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer, or birth defects or other reproductive harm"

[The Hen]

Gob, we are just lucky that the Hatch has no allergies.

I too would want assurances in a school that my child was not at risk of imminent death by being there.

Some peanut allergies are extreme. As Guin pointed out, exposure in air is enough to cause an attack.

Should that allergic child be excluded from school because some kids like peanuts?

I put the worth of the child over the love of a nut.

[Gob]

Except this wasn't at a school, nor was it a children's event, nor does it have anything to do with peanuts...

If a child is old enough to be attending this event and buying cakes without supervision, then it is reasonable to expect they are old enough and informed enough about any allergies they have and what not to buy.

End of matter.

The meeting is taking place tomorrow (FRI) from 2pm to 4pm at Adlington Library in Railway Road.

The group wants to produce a guide and history book of the village, and is asking local people to come along and share their ideas.

Following the consultation with members of the public the group will apply for funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

"We have all these elderly people who come along to these things and love having a chat to each other over a nice cup of tea and a piece of cake. Many of them don't bake themselves any more so this is a real treat for them."

I can see kids flocking to that in their droves!