Judging and Allergies

Welcome back. Yes, I'm of the opinion that starting as a judge will help you understand
what works, what doesn't, etc. without having to guess (as a team might if they'd not
had the benefit of sitting in a judging chair).

I dont have allergies myself. With that disclaimer, when we've entered anscilary
categories we've always had to declare if we're using any type of seafood or peanut
product (for those two specific allergy types). As a judge (MIM/MBN), I've seen
boxes come across the table labeled (by judging committee, not the team) as having
seafood or peanuts.

Interesting to see if KCBS requires this. I haven't seen, personally.

I believe it you have bad food allergies, you are better off not judging. You never know what may come in your box. 60 percent of teams don't even know what is in their product.

wayner123 said:

Yeah that was kind of what I had gathered. That many themselves couldn't tell you what was in their product.

In my specific case though, do you find many "products" containing seafood? And the other question is what if someone is using the same grates to cook seafood on? I would for sure get a reaction.... which makes me think my goal of becoming a judge first, is not a reality.

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Nobody is going to change the grates in their cooker between items. Scrape, brush or burn to clean, hopefully, but change the grate entirely or remove it and wash - no, that doesn't happen at a contest.

Anchovy is used fairly often in sauces and marinades, including Worcestershire, which is employed quite a bit in BBQ. Cooks that use prepared products may easily serve BBQ that contains seafood products unknowingly, unless they read all their labels carefully.

If your reaction is more of an annoyance then you might want to gamble, but if it is more serious I wouldn't take the risk. If you have allergies and choose to judge, you are taking responsibility for rolling the dice, not the organizer or cooks.

We've been to many contests that had ancillary categories, and never been asked to pre-disclose ingredients -- not even in California, where seafood entries are popular.

In the presence of potentially serious food allergies, I wouldn't take the risk.

I've got a seafood allergy - I deal with it on a daily basis, living where I do - but I've been a CBJ for years. It was never mentioned what to do if you have food allergies at the initial class I took, nor at any of the classes I've helped out at so I don't think there's any standard. There's been a few contests where they've had either a seafood dish or a cook's choice-sort of category, and I always ask to be excused for that round if there's seafood involved - no one's ever had a problem with that. Fortunately, as I've gotten older, my reaction is less and less severe - when I was in college, say, smelling too much fish meant a prolonged period of gastrointestinal distress, whereas now it's usually a light rash on my arms & upper legs.

When I cook at BBQ contests, I've never come into contact with any seafood products. You'd think that cooks in LA would use seafood at every possible opportunity, but a lot of the ones around here are caterers as well and are used to watching out for allergies by default. And the cookers I've met overall are pretty conscientious to start with - they just want their product evaluated, they don't mean for anybody to get sick in the process.

Can it happen that you encounter a seafood product in the BBQ you get at a contest? I suppose - after all, I'd bet all it would take is for someone who placed high at several contests to admit they use this or that fish product on their meat. And then, I also suppose you could put some sort of seafood product in chili, or pie, or who-knows-what that gets judged.

All I can say is that with the seafood allergy I have, I've never had a problem with BBQ judging. And neither have several CBJ friends of mine with similar allergies. YMMV.

Lynn H.

Wayne, see above. Civil is correct, I doubt anyone would ever change grates, ever.

My personal BBQ has a small amount of Worcestershire in the spritz, good amount in
the marinade, and a small amount in the sauce...

If you're reaction to it is that bad, yes, skip judging. Might be helpful if a competition
will allow you to witness judging, just for the learning, without having to consume
any.

I dont recall ever seeing a BBQ labeled Peanuts or Seafood, but I have ancillary.
The one time seafood came across and one of the judges had a seafood allergy,
we simply relocated him to another table (ala judge swapping).

I would really worry about it...

I do know of teams that use Oyster Sauce and the like on their food...

This thread did make me think that we should stop using Peanut oil and switch over to something else....

Some of the ingredients used in injections is derived from both seafood and seaweed.

Divemaster said:

I would really worry about it...

I do know of teams that use Oyster Sauce and the like on their food...

This thread did make me think that we should stop using Peanut oil and switch over to something else....

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Speaking of peanut oil, MANY cookers are seasoned using Peanut Oil.

We recently went through a re-seasoning. For this reason alone, this
was the first time I used Lard rather than Peanut Oil...

Smoke'n Ice said:

Some of the ingredients used in injections is derived from both seafood and seaweed.

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Too true! Like MSG, anchovy paste, seaweed extracts and even Thai fish sauce are great sources of glutamates and could potentially be used in any of the categories in a sauce or marinade, etc. Seems like you'd be better off not taking the chance.

If you are allergic to fish, you might consider that some of the products you are judging may have anchovies in it from either wooster sauce, or just plain anchovies or anchovy paste to get that flavor. Or even other stuff as others have mentioned. In my opionion, anyone with any food allergies that are significant enough to cause concern should never judge, because you have no way to know what is in the food you are judging.

One more idea - with some organizations you can act as a Table Captain which allows you to see the judging process first hand without actually sampling.

Something that we say at every contest: DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY FOOD ALLERGIES? It is also a question we ask when teaching the CBJ class. Once we have someone with a problem we direct them accordingly. IT appears this allergy is more servere than most we see, I would recommend table captain. The reps have no control of what is being turned in and in KCBS competition we do label any boxes.

To answer another question: If a judge is unable to judge a category such as Seafood, then the table captain replaces them. I would replace the judge for the entire category not just one sample as that would not be fair to the other teams at the table.

I once competed in a Backyard BBQ Contest at a grocery store that provided meats to give away to their customers, and they had us write down the ingredients in the rubs and sauces in case anyone had an allergic reaction. What a PITA!

Be a table captain. That will allow you to observe without eating the food. If you intend on competing I bet you could learn alot by being a table captain.