We have an excellent deli in town. The owner and several of the staff
members know us and know about our son's and my severe dairy allergies.
When we come in, they pick a slicer and wash it down thoroughly - clean
water, fresh cleaning cloth, and good attention. We have not had any
problems with deli meats from this store.

We make sure that we order the cheese for our non-allergic family members
last(!). We also try to buy at non-peak hours - a relatively small courtesy
compared to what they're doing for us.

I guess it helped that our town lost a fine young man - a recent high
school graduate and lacrosse star - a few years ago to a massive allergic
reaction to nuts. It made all of our town's food service organizations much
more aware of the real consequences of this dreaded malady.

It would be better to have a true kosher deli, where there would never be
meat and cheese cut on the same cutter. But failing that, this arrangement
is a good one.

I don't think we could ever trust the supermarket in town - just too much
turnover in the deli.

Mark