Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by flyinprogrammer 721 days ago
As a father of a 9 mo old with a sesame allergy found out the hard way with a trip to the ER... not only are we making our own bread now because of this, but also, so should you! Store bread has so much unnecessary crap in it, idk why we didn't do this sooner. It's a bummer that we basically can't eat anyone's baked goods outside of the house now, but hey, I guess the market decided I should keep my money and invest in my family, while the rest of you should enjoy the completely unnecessary calories, exposure, and expense of sesame flour.

Also, as far as I can tell, most involved in this sucks, FDA for demanding regulation without investment, lobbyists for supplying a crap solution, and manufactures for not rising above it and rarely caring about the quality of their products.

My recommendation is to boycott store bakery isles in general, invest in $BVILF, and use your kitchen to make friends with your neighbors and get everyone you know making bread/baked goods at home. It absolutely takes privilege to follow this journey, but pay it forward with the bread you can make at home with simple ingredients.

1 comments

This story is about companies erring on the caution and labeling them with things like sesame even if they like don't contain it.

The cost of proving it is sesame free and fines if they are wrong are not worth your business.

When companies install a handicap ramp in their business, it also incurs a cost. I don't blame the bread companies for their choice, and I'm in the minority now left with no choice but to boycott, and that's fine, their finance team likely said my dollars don't impact their bottomline, and they're likely correct.

I also understand that a handicap ramp is likely considerably cheaper than retrofitting a manufacturing facility or building new sesame free facilities. It really would have been nice to see an investment from my taxes to lower the cost of this burden to enable new products. Obviously, that isn't going to happen.

My point of also posting was to let you know that you're now also being exposed to sesame flour, kinda without your consent, because they value capital over quality, and that's also their choice, and a choice you're also now participating in.

You're not going to get anywhere with boycotts. Write and contact decision makers/representatives, on a fairly regular basis. You might end up just screaming into the wind, but you might also make a difference. A boycott by sesame allergy suffers of companies that aren't mindful will always have zero impact.
I think I can do both? Especially because I have no choice but to boycott or risk killing my kid? But also, YOU should boycott too, why are you eating food with crap in it?
Why do you think there is no consent? The products are labeled and nobody is force feeding you or your kid the bread.

They might not produce a product that you would like, but that is a lack of interaction, not coercion.