Starting a Vini Mini company from the East is committed to protecting children from food allergies

When I hear the word food allergy, I always think of the movie Hitch, in which Will Smith’s face swells up after he kisses a woman who has just eaten a peanut butter sandwich. Due to his peanut allergy, he almost passed out after the kiss, which was awful to watch.

Henny Reubsaet

NAfter a conversation with Laurie Lancee, this image of the film in my head has been replaced by his true horror story: how five years ago he was sitting in a car in Spain, with his six-month-old son Viggo on his lap, who. , after eating a small piece of egg suddenly had very heavy ears, they became red and continued to lose consciousness… The frightened doctor at the wheel had hung a white shirt outside the window because they were on the wrong side. on the road to the nearest hospital… where luckily they arrived just in time to give Viggo a life-saving shot with an EpiPen…

I contacted Laurie Lancee because Sunday, April 7th is World Health Day and she is one of the founders of Vini Mini, a young company from East Amsterdam that wants to eliminate food allergies in the world.

Terrible experience

It turns out that this terrible experience was the reason for starting Vini Mini. Because a child’s food allergy is not only a problem for the child himself, but also for the parents. “As a parent, you have to stay vigilant to make sure your child doesn’t put something in his mouth that he’s allergic to,” says Laurie. ‘Curses and parties, restaurants, indeed all places where food is available, are not safe. Always and everywhere take an EpiPen with you. Now that I know you can prevent food allergies in babies, I want to help other parents.’

Preventing peanut allergy in children with eczema

Due to Viggo’s allergic reaction to a piece of egg, he ends up in Pindapoli of Reinier de Graaf hospital. This clinic was established to prevent peanut allergy in children with eczema, who are more likely than other children to develop peanut allergy. The working method of the clinic is based on studies that have shown that 80 percent of children with the possibility of getting allergies can grow out of this condition by slowly introducing them to allergies from four months onwards, through careful and constructive testing.

This way of working is now also adopted by AMC and OLVG, but in 2019 they had to go to Rijswijk specifically for this. There was no problem, because his life had already been taken by Viggo due to a food allergy. In addition to eggs, he was also diagnosed as allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. She did not dare to leave him again, she breastfed him for a year and a half and with the introduction of each new food product, there was always tension about how he would react. Always be vigilant about food and in restaurants to make sure that the product does not contain eggs. Egg can be used in everything, he now knows, from cookies and ice cream, but also in stock cubes and Parmesan cheese.

He has resigned

“When I heard that one in four children in Europe has a food allergy, I wanted to inform other parents about this and help them give babies allergies. So that they do not get food allergies. I had this experience in Viggo as a difficult, exciting and time-consuming process and I thought there should be a different way. Nothing seemed more important than that anymore, so I quit my job to dedicate myself to it. My timing was not very good, because soon after corona came and I had another child. I was at home with three children when that, sometimes I wondered what had happened to me.’

At first he wanted to use his newfound knowledge – he even started studying food technology – to focus mainly on providing information to young parents on how to prevent food allergies. He thought of starting a foundation. But together with Jozien Boersma, a good friend who worked in a baby food manufacturer, they saw that they immediately needed a number of nutritional products in which the prevention method could be used immediately safely and easily. Without parents having to grind the nuts themselves or weigh the grams. And so they founded Vini Mini BV together. With a mission to prevent as many chronic diseases as possible, starting with ‘A for Allergies’.

He is still busy with product development

They now have starter and follow-up kits sold with peanut, walnut, cashew and hazelnut flour. Raw materials are measured for quality and efficiency. As a startup, they are still busy with product development and now they are also trying to introduce other types of products. The latest product they have discovered is Flips, a light snack made from 100 percent corn and peanuts, without gluten, salt or sugar, suitable for very young children who are no longer allergic to peanuts.

The dream of Vini Mini BV is that in the future all parents will receive regular information about the package of allergens through the child health clinic, just like they are told that they should give their child extra vitamin D.

And Viggo? Fortunately, he successfully completed the Peanut Clinic method so that he is not allergic to peanuts or tree nuts. Now he can proudly say that he literally stood in the cradle of his mother and his friend Jozien.

Take a look vinimini.nl