To insist on sending gluten free flour for DS's food tech lesson

Yeah but theoretically the teacher could stand in front of the class and kneed the dough? Plus, maybe a GF cake would be a good to compare the difference.

well, from bake-off I’ve learned that gluten makes dough go stretchy when kneaded. So I guess they need to make their own dough so they can knead and stretch it?

Yanbu. He can cook the gluten free version and they can see the difference.
Otherwise, everyone else will be scoffing their food while your child twiddles their thumbs.

I know it’s not the point of the thread, but I don’t understand why they need the whole class to bake a cake each to show the effect. Surely they only need to bake one cake for demonstration purposes? I would do what they are asking but I understand your point as it seems such a waste of food and he will miss out. I’m sure you can eat it when he gets home though and maybe he can bake another with gluten free flour at home.

Hold your horses, you're so quick to demand your way. I'm amazed you've missed the point of the lesson. Open your ears

It absolutely can!
I have no problems digesting it I just can't see or move my mouth due to swelling even if it's only airborne 🤷‍♀️

Flour gets everywhere, though, particularly when sifting it or sprinkling for dusting. If it can be inhaled, it can end up in the mouth. It's also not inconceivable for a kid, not particularly confident in the kitchen, to absent mindedly rub their face and increase their chance of ingesting gluten.

But you said that the standard comparator is the washed flour? Would it not over-complicate things to have one student making a second comparator? And can’t he participate by baking the recipe with the washed flour?

I’m not denying the possibility that some people might be affected simply by handling flour. I am saying that if this was the case for OP’s son she would not be letting him participate in the class at all due to all the flour floating about in the air.

Gluten has to be ingested to cause symptoms, it does not cause symptoms from skin exposure or inhalation.

My personal experience is that most good tech food isn’t edible. Lots of the recipes taste crap or aren’t to the student’s taste so they throw it away or give it to someone more keen.

I think that this is a very risky class to do when some students have a gluten allergy and flour is hard to “control” as a substance. How will school prevent your son coming into contact with flour? For example is he exempt from washing up because he might come into contact with flour ?

My son did GCSE Food tech and he needed to know the theory on stuff like gluten but didn’t have to cook recipes with allergens that he reacted to in the same way that veggie students didn’t have to cook with or handle meat.

Not necessarily. I don't mind loading the breadmaker as long as I'm careful not to generate too much dust ie spoon the flour, rather than pour, but I've given up on general family baking with wheat flour because I ended up with the shits, afterwards, too often to be coincidence.

@TheSquareMile
I agree with you and would add that no child should ever 'sit it out' in a Food lesson. They should be participating with everyone else and I'd be pretty annoyed as a parent if they weren't.
It's up to the teacher to include everyone appropriately.

Well yes, but is this teacher following 'standard practice'?

Sounds doubtful to me.

He/ she is wrong to refuse the gluten free flour anyway - there are plenty of recipes that OP's son could use and would serve as a good comparator.

How old is he, by the way?

I wouldn't simply send him in with gluten-free flour, as they probably have a standard recipe for the class which is dependent on gluten-containing flour being used.

I think that there needs to be a happy medium in this instance.

Could you e-mail the teacher and attach some of the recipes provided by Coeliac UK for scones and loaves and ask him/her whether he/she will be happy for your son to follow that one with his own ingredients?

That way, he can participate in the lesson and learn about how gluten works when used in bakery, while not feeling obliged to sit it out while the other pupils makes their scones etc.

Just as a matter of interest, has he been tested for Coeliac Disease?

If not, it's important that he does get tested, as a positive result would lead to appointments with a Dietitian who can advise on how Coeliac Disease can be managed in the best way. Undiagnosed Coeliac Disease can have consequences, so it's better to know and then reduce the risk of those happening.

https://www.coeliac.org.uk/information-and-support/your-gluten-free-hub/home-of-gluten-free-recipes/1288039/

https://www.coeliac.org.uk/information-and-support/your-gluten-free-hub/home-of-gluten-free-recipes/939377/

Bit of a cheek insisting he has to cook something he can't eat! Also can he safely handle cooking with gluten or could that trigger symptoms?
Do the rest of you eat gluten? Bit mean but he could at least bring home stuff for you to eat so it's not wasted and you could get or make something gluten free for him instead.....

So everyone else is paying to cook something they can actually eat, but ops child is paying to cook something that they can’t?

If they are studying the effects of gluten in baking then they need both gluten and non gluten examples.

Unless the week after the whole class is making the same recipe again but with non gluten flour @listsandbudgets? In which case it at least makes scientific sense.

Tell them the effect of using gluten is cooking is to give your son the shits

Surely him having gluten free would explicitly demonstrate what gluten does???

don’t understand why the teacher wouldn’t just say yes - maybe because they won’t be happy with the outcome? Maybe it’d be flatter?

i wouldn’t be paying for an ingredient that he couldn’t eat!

Surely OP knows her son’s medical condition and risk management better than an internet random who has never met him?

I don’t think that people are saying he should eat the bread unless he has been diagnosed coeliac. I think what they are trying to flush out is the severity of the intolerance and whether the DS can be in a room where gluten is handled at all, and they are equating this level of intolerance with a coeliac diagnosis.

My view is that this is a non-point and he must be OK to be in a room with gluten otherwise OP would have pulled him out of the lesson altogether.

I have a gluten intolerance and no way would I work with non-gf flour. Your DS shouldn't be inhaling airborne flour particles.

The school have a Health & Safety responsibility for kids with allergies & intolerances.

Those asking whether he's been diagnosed are actually hilarious. The majority of people with coeliac disease are never diagnosed. And go on to develop neurological symptoms, rapid tooth decay, rashes and osteoporosis because doctors do not care about common and highly treatable diseases if they van make a lot of money masking your symptoms instead. Just think of all the dentists who would be out of business for a start.