Will smoking nuts trigger allergies in subsequent cooks?

YoDadio

YoDadio

New member
My apologies if this has already been addressed, all of my searches keep circling back to the wood and not the nuts themselves.

My daughter has tree nut allergies so I want to be safe with my smoker, particularly in regards to potential residue left from smoking almonds. In searching the web there are no shortage of people saying one shouldn't even use "nut" woods (hickory, oak, pecan, almond, etc.) when there are nut allergies in play. Which honestly never occurred to me and seems like overkill, but I am not a doctor nor do I play one on TV. Fortunately we have not had any issues thus far despite using hickory...

Is there anything to worry about? If so, do I just say "no" to almonds, cook it off/re-season, or deep clean following all almond smokes?

I thank you in advance for your input.
 
My first recommendation is to consult your doctor as he would be the authority on this issue.

That being said, I am not an expert, but do have a niece and a nephew who have severe nut allergies who I am very close to. So, I have been fairly well prepared by their parents (my siblings) about most of the issues. I have not heard them talk about this issue, though. But, but my initial thought would be to not smoke anything nut related including the wood in your smoker.

I asked my sister who knows more about this stuff than anyone else I know, and she said responded with:

I would NOT! The residue can travel. Definitely not!
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Let us know if you hear anything different from your medical professional. :)
 
Thanks for bringing this topic up.  I do not have any allergies myself but I know people who do.  Never thought about the wood used.  I will keep that in mind when I cook for others.
 
I am allergic to tree nuts. I have eaten food smoked with hickory, pecan, and oak with no problems. But everything I've read says to err on the side of caution, and not use nut woods, although I haven't found any specific examples of allergic reactions to nut wood smoke. I don't know about smoking actual nuts or smoking with nut shells though. There are also some questions as to whether wood cutting boards made with nut woods (walnut for example) can be a problem. I know there are different allergies to tree nuts, where certain nuts are more lethal than others for different people. Nut allergies are triggered by an immune system response to a protein. My theory is that the wood from nut "trees" does not contain the protein that the nuts do, and neither does the smoke. Don't know if that's true or not. I've also found that I've had less deadly allergic reactions to nuts when they have been roasted (heated to a high temperature), rather than eating them raw. Not that I did this on purpose. All accidental research. But if you are concerned about it, you should avoid it. These are my own personal experiences with my own severe tree nut allergy. I've been around for a while, and have an Epi-Pen handy, although I've never used it. And I probably live on the edge :o I would ask the allergist/doctor, but I pretty much guarantee they will tell you not to use nut wood, or smoke nuts, or anything remotely related to nuts...because of potential lawsuits. I'd be really interested if anyone finds out any reliable, real world, and unbiased information on smoking with nut woods.
 
I happen to be very close to several allergists and I asked one of them.  In regards to smoking almonds and then later smoking a brisket with hickory or some other wood and the residual from the time you smoked almonds triggering anaphylaxis, the answer is highly doubtful.  Of course, the disclaimer is that some people are more highly allergic than others so the possibility exists. 

I was also told that even smoking with a nut wood, it would be unlikely to cause anaphylaxis.

 
Wow, thanks for all of the quick responses. Yes, I am awaiting word from our health care provider but thought I would ask the masses while awaiting a response.

Using nut woods (at least hickory) seems to be OK for my daughter but I am worried about the possibility of oils from the almonds somehow becoming gaseous and then melding into the interior walls of the smoker only to cause issues in subsequent smokes.

Upon further review, I should have been researching "cross contamination" and/or "cross contact" where I found a little more information suggesting that so long as one cleans their grates/grills, pans, utensils, etc. (not completely re-seasoning/cleaning the smoker) after smoking nuts there should not be any issues. Makes sense, as I can't imagine many restaurants having designated ovens, utensils, counter tops, etc. solely for nut prep on a full time basis.

Again, thanks for all your responses, keep them coming. I'll post the doctor's response (eventually). In the meantime I'll have to settle for snacking on the 5 lb bag of raw almonds I bought from Sam's Club (before my spider sense started tingling).
 
Hey Gary, it will be interesting to hear the doctor's response but I'll bet no problem as long as you clean the racks, etc. afterwards. The meat doesn't touch the walls if loaded correctly and I would be really surprised if subsequent smokes caused any "residue" to come off them.
 
Gary, after a smoke, could you just crank the SI to high for a few hours?  I would "think" that the heat would burn all the oils off.
 
Just received a call from a nurse practitioner, who said that secondary contact (smoker/oven interior to food) from smoking is unlikely to be an issue. Though she was wholly unaware of potential problems from using nut woods for smoking...

The good news is that I now have my daughter scheduled for an official screening today where I will be asking someone (hopefully) a little more "in the know". We have self diagnosed my daughter based on her reactions to walnuts in the past.
 
YoDadio said:
Just received a call from a nurse practitioner, who said that secondary contact (smoker/oven interior to food) from smoking is unlikely to be an issue. Though she was wholly unaware of potential problems from using nut woods for smoking...

The good news is that I now have my daughter scheduled for an official screening today where I will be asking someone (hopefully) a little more "in the know". We have self diagnosed my daughter based on her reactions to walnuts in the past.
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I'd be curious to hear which nuts your daughter tests positive for. There are certain pairs of tree nuts that commonly “cross-react” because of similarity in their protein structures. These include pecan and walnut, cashew and pistachio, and almond and hazelnut. So someone who has had a reaction to cashew will likely also test positive and be allergic to pistachio, but may not be allergic to almond or hazelnuts. I have the pecan/walnut one. But I had the worst reaction to Brazil nuts in the allergy test. Everyone says Brazil nuts taste awful, so I'm not missing anything there. ;D And I reacted to cashews (but I think they had cashews mislabeled, because I used to eat those as a kid). I eat pistachios with no problem, although I probably shouldn't because of the risk of cross-contact among nuts during the manufacturing process.
 
Sorry I am not going to be able to give you guys some definitive guidelines regarding cross contamination/contact of nuts in the over/smoker...

Based on the symptoms we gave the pediatrician, he believes my daughter's (possible) nut allergies are too low grade for us to have to worry about cross contamination from using the same smoker/oven. The pediatrician did say that some people can't even say the word "nut" without having an allergic reaction, obviously they would have to take the appropriate precautions. Just the same, I will be holding off smoking almonds until we get the official test results (hopefully later this week).

Unless my daughter turns out to have severe nut allergies, I will not be taking this any further. If she does, I'll be talking to an allergist and/or dietician in short order and share my findings here. For what it is worth, my online searches found conflicting information about the use of nut woods and no mention at all about the oven/smoker itself being problematic at all.


 
I'm guessing your pediatrician gave her a blood test for allergies?  I would advise you to take her to a board certified allergist in your area.  Your pediatrician may be great but a board certified allergist will be more able to give you reliable testing and a more comprehensive consultation for your daughters care.
 
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