Pesto in lunch box - nut free school

Absolutely can confirm, they aren't even one of the ingredients that has to be labelled as an allergen. I know this cos I'm allergic to the bloody things (but not nuts).

That said - OP - there is the potential for cross-reactivity with both cashews & macadamia specifically. Also may not be pine nuts in there, quite often pesto has no nuts (though it should) & sometimes they use cashews cos they used to be cheaper & more readily available.

If you are concerned that there is a risk to children then report it. Some pestos have cashew nuts , the fact she has said , they don't pay attention and she'd just say it was nut free suggests she doesn't give two hoots about the risk she's posing.

Thanks

The origins of pesto are nut-based irrespective of colour. Green = basil and red = sun-dried tomato usually. There are now many variations but I’d always assume it contains ‘nuts’ unless stated otherwise.

Is the red pesto ok or does that have nuts in it too? Asking because my son has this sometimes and it never occured to me it had nuts in.

"johnd2 · Today 21:07

Can't believe no one has mentioned that shop bought pesto has cashew in it because it's cheaper. And pine nuts aren't a nut really."

Oh John. Are you even reading the thread? it's been mentioned like 200 times! 🙄

So He is allergic to pine nuts, and had a reaction to pasta that…had been mixed with pine nuts? That’s to be expected, no?

You really don’t like her, do you @Franxie? 😂

My son is specifically allergic to pine nuts, had a reaction to just eating pasta that had been mixed in a bowl with pine nuts. As they are classed as a seed and not in the top 10 they do not need to be listed in bold on the back of packaging (in Ireland). It’s scary to think parents think it’s okay to send their child in with pesto to school and we had this exact problem when he was in his first year of school and the school had to send out a message to the parents in his class. So yes I would definitely report to the school

I should add…not included in the UK or EU lists. I think the FDA does include them in the States.

Probably not available/suitable for everyone, but thought I’d post this in case useful for those with serious allergies:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgpvzrjjdzo.amp

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/all.16493

Please tell the school. They can check the lunchbox and speak directly to the parent. When I was a TA I sometimes found peanut butter or egg in sandwiches (both nuts and eggs were banned). The most common breach of the rules was Nutella in sandwiches. Often the parent didn’t realise as they thought it was just chocolate spread or were new to the school and hadn’t grasped the rules. They will have to stop putting it in if a staff member talks to them.

just me who can’t believe she’s feeding her kids that for lunch but thinks school dinners are unhealthy 😃

You’re wrong here - cashew nuts are classed as a tree nut for allergies. They are very definitely fall under not allowed under the “ no nuts” rule

Milk is far less of a problem than nuts are for allergic adults. So your point was right for adults, but not for children.

It’s far more likely that a child will ‘grow out of’ a dairy allergy than a nut one. That’s the reason for the difference.

Nope. Lifelong nut allergy here and I react to pine nuts plus some pesto uses cashews.

As a fellow allergy mother (multiple allergies) I sympathise. However, I always find it a bit strange that peanuts and tree nuts and then unknown nuts are given separate categories here. Added together they’re responsible for a high percentage of fatalities 🙁

Can't believe no one has mentioned that shop bought pesto has cashew in it because it's cheaper. And pine nuts aren't a nut really.

OP, I was sceptical that nut bans were that important until my son became allergic to quite a lot things including most things with "nut" in the name.
Anything that lowers the risk is a good thing, but on the flip side as long as the whole class doesn't end up on bread and water. There's a balance to be had.

But the real worry with parents like that is their cavalier attitude, I wouldn't trust them a mile away. Yes epi pens could save your child's life, but you literally use the epi pen and call for an ambulance and you have to stay in hospital until you get the all clear. So it's not a magic antidote, it's just better if imminent death is less likely.
What happens if the parent in question decides to serve whatever it is in your child's food because they don't believe it.

We did ask the allergy doctor what the next steps were and the only thing is to see a nutritionist to make sure your child gets their right nutrients despite cutting out most major sources of protein. Certainly on the NHS there's no other option.

The school has a nut ban though. Pine nuts are typically not considered part of that category in the UK (the name notwithstanding). People can still be allergic to them of course, but they’re probably not covered by this ban, though OP should check with the school.

Pesto may be made with different types of nuts (and often is) so the ingredients need to be checked in order to comply with school regulations in any case. It seems OP’s friend isn’t interested in doing this.

@CassandraWebb Ah v interesting- I take back my comment about milk being less anaphylactic then! I guess a lot more more kids have a milk intolerance, so a smaller proportion of them will be anaphylactic, but that still produces a greater number of fatal anaphylactic reactions than the ones who have the same from peanut allergies.

I wonder if that’s because peanut allergies are better known about, so it’s more likely that kids and caregivers will have an EpiPen and know what to do in an emergency? Plus of course peanuts are much easier to avoid than milk, less risk of mislabelling than if you’re trying to avoid milk which is in everything, etc.

Apologies if someone has already said this....to me, the worst thing is this parent didn't say to the OP "don't worry, this pesto has pine nuts in it and I know they're not actually nuts and therefore not part of the nut-free rule". She seemed to assume the pesto was indeed contravening the (imho very sensible) rule and was just going to casually lie about it if asked....

It's hard to find pesto in supermarkets that doesn't have cashew nuts these days, several of the taste the difference type ones have recently introduced cashews to the recipe I guess to save money.

Op just tell the school,

Sometimes. Not usually.

As a parent of a child with both nut and milk allergies I find the constant handwringing about nuts with no apparent awareness of the greater risk posed by milk

And I am not asking people not to bring milk products into school, but I am asking people to understand that if you care about allergy safety you will focus on good allergen hygiene (eating with mouth closed, not throwing food, not touching other people's food) rather than enforcing allergen bans

Image is from an Imperial study - I can't post links for some reason!