Dishwashing

It's something you take for granted.
You know, especially when you have a working dishwasher. Sure, it's a pain. But, you rinse off the worst of those dishes, fill up the little cache, and close the door. Push the econo setting, and you're good to go. By the time you're done with the days errands, or have a good night's sleep, the dishwasher will be full of clean shiny dishes.
And all of them will be safe for you to eat off of.

They won't make you sick.

Unless you have a corn allergy.

If you do have a corn allergy (or other unique situation), that steam that erupts from a freshly finished dishwasher when the door is opened is misleading. Sure, the dishes are sterile. But a fine residue remains. This residue leaves the dishes spotless, without little water marks. Makes them easier to clean later. Is perfectly harmless to humans.

Unless, of course, you happen to have the aforementioned corn allergy.

I had found a safe dishwashing detergent. I'd argued my way through a few manufacturers, with that whole "Well, you aren't supposed to eat it..." discussion, and settled on Kirkland signature powdered dishwasher detergent. The Costco guy was very helpful. Very kind. He called and checked on everything, taking a list of suspect ingredients.

And then, 2 years later, they simply stopped making it. And the new "Environmentally friendly" version lists citric acid as a key ingredient. Citric Acid, as many of you know, is notoriously connected to corn allergy reactions (regardless of whether or not any protein remains.)

I don't know about you, but eating is enough of a gamble for me. I don't need to be afraid of the soap I stick in my dishwasher, too.

So I'm off to seek a safer alternative. Especially since we're now completely out of the "old" detergent. And the friendly Costco guy has yet to respond to me emails about the new stuff...
Hey, maybe it is "Just Stress". Stressing about coming in contact with surprise corn (and the subsequent surprise 6 week recovery period) certainly doesn't help.