Can birds read?

Lizzie27

I was very amused when I went to open a packed of dried mealworms for the blackbirds and robins. It had the usual blurb of keeping it away from children. wasn't edible etc etc - and at the bottom it said "May Contain Nuts" .   So?! 

Dovefromabove

Some people are so allergic to nuts that just the smell or touch could trigger an anaphylactic episode so if nuts might be in anything it’s as well to have an alert on the container. 
  

Lizzie27

Yes, Dove, that did occur to me after I'd posted. That must a terrible allergy to live with - how come it wasn't heard of when we were little?

Papi Jo

The OP's question reminds me of a similar question I posted on my garden site at http://www.rezeau.org/wp-garden/en/food-for-birds-who-can-read/

pansyface

My theory, lizzie, about anaphylactic shock.  When we were young, nuts came in shells. They were gathered and packed and sold in their shells. If a nut was mouldy or contaminated with something, it never got to rub shoulders with its neighbours. It kept its problem to itself. Nowadays, nuts are almost always unshelled and so liable to share and spread moulds and bacteria with other nuts.

We weren’t exposed to large quantities of whatever it is that sends people into shock.

That’s my theory.

Other triggers for anaphylactic shock will have other reasons. I remember a boy at school suddenly upped and died after eating an egg in a sandwich. He hadn’t been allergic to eggs until that moment.

He wasn’t the only one suffering from shock that day.

Hostafan1

My elder daughter has a nut allergy, diagnosed at 15 after eating a cashew for the first time . She's not as bad as some, she can be in the same room as nuts, sit beside someone else eating them etc, but she has to carry an epipen .

Mary370

re nut allergy........some airplane carriers have topped serving/selling nuts.  On my last flight, back in May the air stewardess made an announcement that one of the people onboard had a nut allergy and could we please refrain from opening any packets we might have.

plant pauper

We had a run in in work with a nut allergy person a couple of years ago. Signs went up and there was a total ban on anything nutty the world over! It seems clerical staff can over-react slightly (dozey bint!!!).
On world aids day one of our chaps makes and sells crepes and there was a contraband jar of Nute!!a under the sink in the kitchen! 🤣

Dovefromabove

It probably wasn’t an over reaction ... a child I worked with nearly died because someone on the school bus ate a peanut butter sandwich  ... fortunately a member of staff realised and administered the pipes ... he was still very ill and had to be rushed to hospital and was kept in for several days. 
A lot of people just do not understand how deadly serious an anaphylactic reaction can be to what seems like a very small trigger. 

plant pauper

I understand completely and make it my business to ensure everyone's safety to the best of my ability because if he drops dead he does so at my feet.
I had the wit to talk to the person in question rather than Dr Google and we were able to take down the rather hysterical "big red signs" that she had plastered everywhere and come to a more sensible and less embarrassing (for him) arrangement.
The poor chap was mortified!
My niece's primary school was a totally "nut free zone" (apart from her of course) as one of the children was severely allergic. Clearly someone had bothered to check their facts and act accordingly.

Dovefromabove

Ah! I get you ... not so much what you do ... rather it’s the way that you do it!  

it it is amazing tho, the way some people will find a way to circumvent the necessary anti-nut measures ... I once had to explain ‘very clearly’ to someone that anaphylaxis wasn’t a “mainly psychosomatic condition and that a little of what they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them”.  😫