"Nut-Free" Pecans and Walnuts

[pheyter]

I'm new here, so sorry if this has been asked before. I don't know where to look.

My four year old is very allergic to all nuts excepts Pecans and Walnuts (on blood test). We are going to do a food challenge with those, but I need walnuts and pecans that are not contaminated by other nuts.

Is it safe to get nuts in their shell if they have been touching other offending shelled nuts (peanut, etc?) Are the shells of peanuts, pistachio, etc, carrying allergic proteins that could get onto the walnut/pecan shells during cracking and cause a problem?

Where do you go to get your "nut free" nuts if you are allergic to many but not all peanuts/tree-nuts? Would is be safe to order shelled nuts from Nuts.com?

Thanks!

[rebekahc]

Hello and welcome! 

We have a thread in this section that might help you Sources for nuts (peanut-free, treenut-free, etc.)

[Macabre]

Thanks Rebekah.

We do not trust anything that has been in contact with what we are allergic to. Including nuts.

[booandbrimom]

We do use nuts in our house all the time. I buy them either in the shell and crack them (wash them first) or whole and wash them. With the whole ones, we pick through to make sure what we're using is really whole nut, not pieces.

This was the advice our allergist gave us years back when our son passed his nut challenges and it has worked for us. Good luck!