Food and Travel Translation Cards

One of the first posts I ever made on Planet Lactose was on the extremely apropos Food Sensitivities Translation Cards services that, as the title suggested, manufactured little cards people could carry in their wallets, pockets, or purses with the phrases they vitally needed translated into the language of the country they visited.

Both firms are still in business. The British firm, DietaryCard.com offers:

4 types of Dietary Alert Card:-

For celiacs and other diners following a gluten-free diet, we offer Classic Coeliac Cards.

For diners coping with a nut allergy or another medical condition necessitating a strict nut-free diet, we offer No Nuts Cards.

For diners with food sensitivities requiring help choosing from menus we offer Custom Card 1.

For diners with severe food allergies requiring help choosing from menus we offer Custom Card 2.

And the American firm, SelectWisely.com, got itself a spiffy write-up by Jen Leo in the Los Angeles Times.

Do your allergies (or your child's) make it challenging for you to travel abroad? Selectwisely.com helps liberate travelers who have food allergies and other health concerns.

What's hot: If you are a traveler who has a food allergy, you can order a translation card that lets restaurant servers and store clerks -- really, anyone who has a hand in serving you food -- know that there's an issue. The site offers cards in more than 25 languages. Its example of what it calls a "strongly worded" card shows variations of "I have a life-threatening allergy to shrimp" in the foreign language (Thai, in the example) and English with a visual aid on one side of the card. If you are allergic to nuts, that specific card will list a variety of nuts. There are also emergency cards for those who cannot eat gluten, who have diabetes or asthma, are lactose intolerant or are vegetarian. Prices for the cards vary from $6.50 to $9.50 (plus shipping), and you get two identical cards sent within one to three business days.

Nice to see businesses to cater to special foods need succeeding and staying available for years on end.