I would want them to narrow down what it is in the goldfish that he reacted to, not just saying he is allergic to goldfish. Whatever that ingredient is is most likely in lots of other things.

Yeah-- actually, other regional cuisine is even more problematic from a shellfish standpoint-- and Japanese and Thai tops the list. 

There is one place that I get sesame tempeh from that I have pretty good luck with... but man, every so often I get burned if the wok isn't clean enough.  KWIM?  (Obviously I'm not allergic to sesame.)

Also any Asian food restaurant will also have shrimp as a cross contaminant. The woks are not properly washed between dishes (except for PFC, where they will bring out a clean wok for you).

I'm sure it's not just Chinese food.  I bet if he were to eat Thai food you didn't prepare it would also end up in a reaction.

DS has eaten safely at PF Changs many times, admittedly not in a few years.  However, he really doesn't seem to be that sensitive to Xcontam with sesame so I wouldn't use him as an example, KWIM?

Sesame is the devil.  The fact that our @ss backwards FDA refuses to make it a top allergen is galling.

Good luck on the challenges!

I've eaten at PF Chang's safely once. It was lovely. They web vise new towels to wipe off allergy tables. But yeah--I've always assumed that the Chinese food thing for him is really sesame. Aside from Pfc the only Asian food I can eat is what we make from scratch--and with ingredients that come from the US or Canada.

Yeah, sesame was my first thought about the Chinese food.  It's in almost everything, what it is not in is likely to be x- contaminated.  The only chance of getting Chinese that is safe for sesame might be pf Chang's, but I am not sure about that even.  They have special allergy menus fir the top 8, but I don't know about sesame.  Then, if you tell them about the allergy, they will prepare the food separately, opening new packages of ingredients.

Jenn, I cannot eat ANY Chinese fast food.  What doesn't have sesame is cross contaminated with it,

That may be Holden's problem with it too.

First thing - at 12.5 years old, he's STILL not 70lbs. He's 69.5lbs and is 4'7.5" ..... he grew an inch since June! YAY!

So allergy/asthma news ..... we were told that we need to try and drop the Asmanex from his regimen (Zyrtec, Singulair, Flonase & Asmanex) and see if it's truly needed. We were told that she's absolutely fine with proactively pre-treating Holden with his ventolin for running, wrestling but we do need to do this "test" to see if it's truly necessary anymore. Holden's not QUITE comfortable with it yet (and we DO have 4 asmanex twisthalers because of 90 day supply) but I think once his current twisthaler is out, we'll do a trial for a week or so. In the past when we've tried, it's become pretty apparent within a few days that he can't go without it. HOPING he CAN go without it now.

FOOD CHALLENGES ..... (i'll have to post this in the proper forums I'm sure, but here we go!) In Holden's records, we've got it listed as his allergens are: goldfish crackers (he broke out in hives all over his face from them), sesame, shrimp (but he can eat lobster and crab legs) and chinese foods (he's gotten ill and had major reactions to several types of chinese foods so we avoid all, she's thinking it may be some weird chinese seasoning/spice).

When asked what food he'd like to get back first, he chose goldfish crackers. Not sure how that challenge will go as I know they do SPT first to see if there's a reaction that way and THEN you ingest the food, but he's excited but EXTREMELY nervous. He said as far as sesame and shrimp goes he could really care less if he can eat those again as he doesn't "like" them. As far as the chinese foods - we all love Chinese foods in this house (except Holden) so it'd be nice if he could eat it. I know he loved it when he was eating it but he remembers it always making him feel ill. I reminded him it's not just about whether he can eat them but whether we need to avoid things that COULD be contaminated with them. VERY VERY ANXIOUS and NERVOUS. His goldfish cracker challenge will be in February - so we have 6months to prepare.

Any insight/support/suggestions?

Thanks a bunch!