Nut allergy sufferers know all too well that they must be careful with what foods they eat. Surprisingly, nuts may also be used in industrial products. This could be a real problem for extremely sensitive individuals.
Karen at AvoidingMilkProtein.com sent me a short article about nuts in industrial products, and I am sharing it with you here.
Avoiding Milk Protein has found an alarming number of industrial products containing nuts. Instead of sand blasting buildings with sand some companies are using walnut shells, a possible airborne hazard for those with nut allergies.
Spray tans using walnut shells are also being used in some spas. Peanut fuel is an old bio fuel that does appear from time to time, even today. Another strange use for nuts, are mixing walnut shells with pool deck paint instead of sand to prevent slipping around the pool deck.
Crushed almond shells are even being used to manufacture building supplies. Some companies are experimenting with peanut and other tree nut shells in water purification.
Little is known about if the allergen proteins are still in these products.
Imagine a nut allergic chimney sweeper being called to clean a chimney or stove only to find out from a reaction that fire logs made from tree nuts were recently used in the chimney, or a stove was powered by peanut pellets, these products are currently being sold and used.
Here are some examples of non-food nut uses:
- Airbrush Tanning
- Welcome Mats
- Rolling Pins (finished with nut oil)
- Walnut Oil (furniture finish)
- Juggling Balls
- Shoes
List of unusual products made from nuts:
http://www.avoidingmilkprotein.com/nutty.htm
The above link leads to a growing list of unusual uses for nuts, some of which may cause problems for those with a nut allergy (for example water filters) and others probably harmless (biomass energy generation).