Part of the problem is that there are those folks who exaggerate their kid's food allergies. I know folks who have very serious food allergies, and the exaggerating people are doing a disservice to them.
My youngest went to a day care with all sorts of allergy/"Don't bring in this food" signs. Nut, eggs, dairy, etc. - the list went on and on. And each parent swore that their kid's allergy was severe.
What ends up happening is a danger to the truly allergic child. I saw products that contained the allergy trigger items in that classroom (because I read the labels), and I saw kids eating them right next to the kid that would have a life-threatening reaction if they were in the same room with the food (according to Mom). So what happens is someone like me, with kids that don't have allergies, sees stuff like that going on and starts ignoring the signs. My youngest will barely eat anything anyway, and the day care is limiting her food selections to items she won't eat, so I figure it won't hurt to add this in her lunch...and there is the problem.
