March is Nutrition Month in Canada and on the 19th, the Ordre professional des Diététistes du Québec (OPDQ) hosted a wonderful event at Place Ville-Marie, Montreal: Dietitians Day.

During the course of the day, over the phone and on-site, dietitians offered Quebecers some much appreciated free tips and counselling on nutrition and healthy eating habits. Numerous associations were also invited to participate, including the Peanut Bureau of Canada, which we were honoured to represent.

Within less than an hour, it was obvious that this event would be a tremendous success. In a snap, almost all of the documents offered at the booth were snatched by passer-by’s who desired nothing less than to be properly informed about peanuts and more importantly, peanut related allergies. We quickly realized that what most people wanted to know was “is it safe to eat peanuts in public?”.

Over the past few years, certain food companies have been giving peanuts a bad reputation by releasing and promoting new “peanut-free” products. I’m sure most of you agree that nothing beats a delicious peanut butter cookie or a sumptuous spicy Pad Thai. However, due to these anti-peanut messages, people have been misled to think that eating something which might include peanuts is socially irresponsible.

In my humble opinion, completely removing something as nutritious as peanuts from our daily lives and promoting peanut-less products as safe and healthy is much more socially irresponsible. While food allergies are a problem which most be taken seriously, we shouldn’t take the easy solution and simply remove the allergen from the market. A socially responsible company would either abide by the recommendations presented in the Quebec Food Allergy Association (AQAA) new Food Allergy Management Manual for Restaurants and Food Services, or offer the same product with and without peanuts. Otherwise, the wrong message is sent to the public.

With our ever growing obesity epidemic and health problems, I do not think we can afford to remove healthy foods from our menus, even something as small as a peanut. I believe it is important that we persevere to properly educate and raise awareness about how to maintain a healthy lifestyle through nutritious foods and good habits.

In a Nut Shell, we should have a lot more events such as Dietitan Day. If you had walked through Place Ville-Marie on March 19th and stopped for a few seconds at one of the booths, I’m sure you would agree that these educational events will always be a welcomed success.