Avoid Choker Foods for Young Children (2501)

Young children are at the highest risk of choking on food and remain at high risk until they can chew better. Choking kills more young children than any other home accident. How can you make eating safer for young children?

- Watch children during meals and snacks to make sure they sit quietly, eat slowly, chew food well before swallowing, eat small portions and take only one bite at a time.

- Fix table foods so they are easy to chew. Cut foods into small pieces or thin slices. Cut round foods, like hot dogs, into short strips rather than round  pieces. Remove all bones from fish, chicken, and meat. Cook food until it is soft. Remove seeds and pits from fruit.

The foods that are popular with young children are often the ones that have caused choking. Foods that may cause choking are:

- Firm, smooth or slippery foods that slide down the throat before chewing, like whole hot dogs, hard candy, peanuts, whole grapes, and whole pieces of canned fruit.

- Small, dry or hard foods that are difficult to chew and easy to swallow whole, like popcorn, small pieces of raw carrots or other hard vegetables, nuts and seeds, potato and corn chips, and pretzels.

- Sticky or tough foods that do not break apart easily and are hard to remove from the airway, like spoonfuls or chunks of peanut butter or other nut/seed butters, meat, chewing gum, marshmallows, and raisins or other dried fruit.

For more information on this subject, Please visit the College of Agricultural Sciences Publications Web site.

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