Pesto in lunch box - nut free school

I don't think schools should be dairy free. I just think it's wildly problematic to have an issue with nuts without even acknowledging that all foods are potentially deadly allergens

The issue is that the school is a nut-free school, so people will be operating under the assumption that it is a safe zone for anyone with a nut allergy. That's what makes it so dangerous when people flout these guidelines, because they're compromising a space that's operating as if it's free from a certain thing.

Whether schools should also be dairy-free, as dairy can be as dangerous and common an allergen as nuts, is a separate issue.

Absolutely not true. Cashews are tree nuts. My sons best friend has a tree nut allergy. A small taste of cashew nuts would kill him. Cashews are a serious nut allergen. The OP is being seriously unreasonable with her attitude as she has no idea if the pesto she is using has Cashews in or not and seemingly gives zero shits if she kills someone elses child

And yet no one thinks twice about the cheese that was also in the sandwich

I have never heard anything so ridiculous in all of my life.

Of course you shouldn't snitch on your friend over pesto in her kids' sandwiches. Do you realise how ridiculous you sound?

I have no idea - because you haven't said - why you asked your friend's children what they had for lunch, But it really is none of your business; and unless children are routinely allowed or encouraged to swap food, there is also no reason to fear children becoming unwell through your friends' pesto sandwiches.

I'm just adding my voice to the chorus of nooooo!!

Pesto almost always contains nuts and would be dangerous to a nut allergy sufferer. I assume the school is nut free for very good reason. I absolutely cannot stand people who dismiss allergy precautions. To think their pesto bagel is more important than someone's life.

But the option to work towards a cure isn’t universally offered. All we have been given for a cashew and pistachio nut allergy is a box of antihistamines and the advice to avoid them!!

My younger daughter is allergic to a range of non food things such as animals and pollen. Her allergies were causing lots of nose bleeds at one point. At no point were we offered a ‘cure’. She was given different medication with awful side effects usually given to asthma sufferers but was told it would hopefully help. It did help the nosebleeds weirdly but not the allergies. She’s has chosen a hobby which she loves (horses) but often has to be dosed up depending on what they’re doing - riding, stable management type things etc. we just increase the meds. She’s come home from school tonight sneezing and itchy as the pollen count is high today. But she’s classed as mildly allergic so no cure offered.

Okay, I must have misunderstood the point of your original post so, sorry.

I do think lots of people would assume pine nuts were included in a nut ban though, because of the name for one reason. DS has nut allergies and people often assume that includes coconut too, even though it doesn’t. So I don’t think they’d necessarily think ‘oh pine nuts are fine, but I’d better watch out for the cashews’. Usually people know these things because they have to. Which nuts are and are not on food labelling lists aren’t really common knowledge I’d say.

My child has an allergy to cashew and pistachio nuts. Pesto is a tricky one as you can buy it without cashew but you have to read the labels really well. Not everyone even realises. My ex h actually fed my child pesto without realising and it became a quick lesson on why to read the ingredients. Luckily she’s not anaphylactic with it and just needed her antihistamines and was a bit unwell after. Same happened when a relative gave her curry. They hadn’t realised curry contains cashew. DD accepted the curry without checking as school serve curry and she likes it but they sell a nut free one. She just assumed all curry was fine.

If a school told me it was not free I would not expect these to be in school. Not all schools are not free though. My daughter’s school did allow Nutella spread at after school for tea on occasions and she had this when offered as isn’t allergic. However when the school French teacher decided to bring in pan au chocolate and other bits n pieces she wasn’t even allowed to eat them ‘just in case’ and had to watch her friends eat them - she loves them!! Schools seem to send out mixed messages about nuts.

I work in a nut free school which is strict. Someone brought in a box of celebrations and they were confiscated.

Edited to add that our allergy doctor suggested a ‘nut free’ diet at school to make sure of safety unless foods had previously been ok (like hazelnut). So whilst you say cashew and pistachio aren’t nuts but seeds, for allergy purposes they do get categorised as such.

That was me, I know you were responding to me. And I was responding to you saying the op assumed pine nuts were nuts, I was saying I don’t think she was because most pestos contain actual nuts.

I know, but I was replying to a pp who pointed out that (cashew) nut-free pestos are available, that she is careful to use one herself, and that OP would come across as an interfering busybody in that type of situation.

A friend of mine has a very serious allergy to pine nuts - epipen, hospitalisation, the lot. So whilst they may not technically be nuts, they can be just as dangerous for those with an allergy. So I guess its a question of whether anyone in the school is allergic to them.

The info you gave stated that so unusual pine nuts are known to cause anaphylactic shocks and that cashew nuts are tree nuts.

My cousin nearly died through eating pesto as she's allergic to nuts and the adult feeding her at the time didn't know about cashew nuts being in it.

Most pestos do contain cashew nuts though. So you can’t just assume the pesto you’re buying is nut free and only contains pine nuts.

I think OP was assuming that pine nuts fell under the category of nuts for the school nut ban.

In fact for the purposes of UK or EU food labelling they’re not considered nuts.

They are labelled as nuts for allergy purposes in America though, so it is confusing.

Shop brought pesto often contains Cashew not Pine nuts anymore as they are expensive. Cashew could kill my daughter or leave her seriously disabled, she carries accept pen bit these don't always work. Even contact with a chol who had eaten Cashew could cause a reaction.
I would suggest you report it because of her blasé attitude and because schools when they go nut free presume compliance and this can make them complacent when a child starts to show signs of an anaphylactic reaction. They can also become distracted trying to work out where it is happening. Personally I would really appreciate you looking after my daughters safety by saying something, but perhaps don't name the parent it is more helpful for the school to appreciate nut free doesn't work and is impossible to enforce.
The Natasha Allergy Foundation are asking for people to share links to there school campaign and education pack.

As pp have said, if it’s pine nut pesto, it’s fine as pine nuts are not nuts, they’re seeds.

Most jarred (rather than fresh) pesto also has nuts for bulk, because of the high price of pine nuts.

I thought all nuts were the seeds or contained the seeds of every tree /shrub/ plant.

I would let the school know. Not to be an arse or anything but just as a health and safety matter. They are trying to implement a safety rule and you are withholding relevant information. The school could then send an email stating pesto is not acceptable. Some people may not know it contains nuts

Depends which pesto, most of the standard supermarket own and branded pesto use cashew nuts now instead of or as well as pine nuts, I find it's only the more luxury or world food brands that still use pine nuts

My son's school used to ring me every time a child brought in a peanut butter sandwich and they discovered it.

But they didn't bloody well think to ring me when another child threw cheese in his open lunchbox meaning he couldn't eat any of his lunch.

So utterly ignorant.

Not nonsense at all. None of the major allergy charities recommend allergen bans. Bans create a false sense of safety.

Many many children are allergic to milk, many to eggs, soya, fruit, wheat, fish.

Banning nuts makes everyone complacent.

All children and staff should learn about allergy safety and the importance of good hygiene

My daughter recently had a severe reaction in school because of a child eating a cheese sandwich

Oh fuck off you idiot

This!
There is no way that a school with several hundred children and adults doesn’t contain lunch boxes with Nutella, or other nut products, homemade cakes etc. It must be incredibly hard to provide veggie kids with healthy nut free lunch boxes day after day. I just don’t buy it. It must be dangerous pushing the illusion that schools are nut free.