Can a Toddler Eat Food Cooked With Honey in it?

Can a Toddler Eat Food Cooked With Honey in it? - Ethnic mother pouring rice into pot on fire against daughter with cat and barefoot baby eating lollipop at home

One of the recommendations for enabling a young child to pick up some of the more slippery foods is to coat them with bread crumbs or graham cracker crumbs. While looking for graham crackers at the store, we found honey graham crackers. Considering that exposure to honey can cause infant botulism, I was wondering if the honey graham crackers are safe for him to eat?



Best Answer

That bit of the Wikipedia article is unsourced, but Health Canada confirms and says that spores may be present even in pasteurized honey. (I never would have thought that.)

I wouldn't expect the cooking of the crackers to damage the spores significantly more than the pasteurization. I can't say for sure that there will be live spores in the crackers, but it's a definite possibility and if you're concerned about this then you should not risk it.




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Quick Answer about "Can a Toddler Eat Food Cooked With Honey in it?"

However, you should not give honey to your baby if they are under the age of one. Honey can cause botulism, which is a type of food poisoning, in babies under one year old. Babies should not have honey in any form, even cooked in baked goods.

Does cooked honey have botulism?

Indeed, whilst honey may be cooked in the production of these products, it is not generally heat pasteurized, so botulism spores may still be present.



When can my baby eat honey?




More answers regarding can a Toddler Eat Food Cooked With Honey in it?

Answer 2

You say "toddler" and not "infant", which leads me to believe that you"re referring to a child that's at least one. At least in Canada, the honey prohibition is only for children sub 12 months. In which case, yes, it is safe to feed a toddler honey.

Either way, lots of sugar in Graham crackers. Try panko; my kids love It crusted on pretty much anything.

Answer 3

Since the toxin producing spores need a moist environment to germinate and cooking destroys any residual toxin that may have existed in the honey prior to processing, I would say honey graham crackers are safe for kids.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botulism

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