While cookies and similar products carry the greatest risk, all baked goods are suspect. Cakes and cupcakes that seem perfectly safe commonly cause peanut reactions. How can this happen? Cross contamination and hidden ingredients are often the root causes:

A dirty spatula or other serving utensil: A serving utensil used to serve an unsafe food can sometimes transfer enough of that food to a safe food to trigger a reaction.

A contaminated knife: A knife used to spread peanut butter icing on one cake and then spread peanut-free icing on your cake or cut your cake can spoil your dessert.

A flavoring that seems safe: You wouldn’t suspect that something called “Almond Extract” would trigger a peanut reaction unless you’re also allergic to almonds, but I recently saw a girl who had a severe reaction after eating a supposedly safe cupcake a neighbor gave her. It turned out that the particular artificial almond extract the neighbor used was actually made of peanut.

Related posts:

1. Peanut Allergy : Deconstructing cookies
2. Peanut Allergy : Deciphering the mysteries of peanut oils
3. Peanut Allergy : Choosing a peanut-lite restaurant
4. Peanut Allergy : Designating peanut-free zones
5. Peanut Allergy : Uncovering peanuts in candies