Originally Posted by
bkay
Just so you know, people who are allergic to peanuts are not necessarily allergic to all nuts. as peanuts are a legume (pea or bean), not a nut. It's my understanding that people are allergic to the protein in the peanut (I used to be a chef.), so walnut shells would not not trigger an allergic reaction. Tree nut allergy is not very common.
However, that said, (and just to be safe) you could print up a whole page of tiny labels that say "contains tree nut shells" and attach them to the pin cushions with a pin. (You could use 80 to a page label template in Word.) They would be easily removable, give fair warning and would not cost anything to speak of.
bkay
Actually tree nuts are one of the top 8 most common allergens and they are common enough. Believe me, we've been dealing with both peanut and tree nut allergy for over 20 yrs. The person you quoted did not say anything at all about peanuts so I am not sure why you even mentioned that. I have a very good feeling she knows that peanuts aren't nuts. It is impossible to fully remove every bit of walnut from the shell and even if you did, there could still be trace protein on the shells so yes, it's still a risk. My daughter had full body hives for over a week (while on steroids and antihistamines) just from breathing in the air while standing near a booth roasting nuts. There's no chance I would risk walnut shells which actually touched walnuts with her.