What Kids Shouldn't Eat and Why

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What Kids Shouldn't Eat... and Why

Feeding your children is one of the most basic responsibilities of parenting, but we need to make informed and knowledgeable choices about what we feed them. Here are several important facts to be aware of:

Untreated Juice. Juice that isn’t pasteurized risks harmful bacteria from the outside of the produce becoming part of the finished product. The bacteria, if ingested by children can cause serious illness or even death. Only 2% of juices sold in grocery stores are not pasteurized and those carry a warning label.

Honey should not be given to children under a year old. It can contain the botulinum organism and could cause illness or death.

Raw or Unpasteurized Milk should not be served to infants and children. It may contain harmful pathogens.

Soft Cheeses - Feta, Brie, Camembert, Blue Veined, and Mexican Style Cheeses. Pregnant women and their fetuses, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems are advised not to eat soft cheeses, because cheese made from pasteurized milk can become contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, a harmful bacterium.

Shark, Swordfish, King Mackerel, Tilefish and Tuna. The FDA advises that pregnant women, women who may become pregnant, nursing women and young children not eat shark, swordfish, king mackerel, tilefish and tuna due to unsafe levels of methylmercury.

Raw Sprouts (e.g., alfalfa, clover, radish) should not be eaten by children due to sprout-associated salmonellosis. Salmonella infections can cause serious illness in children, the elderly and the immune compromised. Healthy persons infected with these bacteria experience diarrhea, nausea, abdominal cramping and fever for several days.

Note: Even if the sprouts are grown at home, the pathogenic bacteria can be present in the seeds.

Raw Oysters can cause serious illness or even death, due to a naturally occurring bacterium called Vibrio vulnificus.

Raw Eggs. Never let your child eat raw eggs or foods prepared with raw eggs due to the possible presence of a bacterium called Salmonella Enteritidis. Infection from this bacteria can cause severe illness or even death in children. The FDA recommends the following Safe handling instructions: TO PREVENT ILLNESS FROM BACTERIA: KEEP EGGS REFRIGERATED, COOK EGGS UNTIL YOLKS ARE FIRM, AND COOK FOODS CONTAINING EGGS THOROUGHLY. (So much for tasting the cookie dough!)

Equal aka Aspartame. Scary scary scary!!! Although the FDA acknowledges possible side effects with the product, their position is that it only affects certain people who do not effectively metabolize one of aspartame's components, the amino acid phenylalanine. According to the FDA, this “problem” can cause “high levels of this amino acid in body fluids and can cause brain damage.” Therefore, the FDA requires that all products containing aspartame include a warning to phenylketonurics that the sweetener contains phenylalanine, but there’s quite a bit more to the story…(Read more about aspartame.)

Important facts to prevent illness from food:

Always wash your hands before preparing food, especially when making baby formula because bacteria exposure can result in infant diarrhea.
Speaking of babies... if a baby doesn’t finish a bottle or a jar of baby food, throw it away. Refrigerating and reheating will not remove the harmful bacteria introduced from a baby's mouth.
Do not use perishable items like milk, formula or food left out of the refrigerator for more than 2 hours.

FDA Consumer – Preventing Foodborne Illness

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