Nut free school, is "may contain nuts" ok?

[icepackquestion]

My daughters primary school is a nut free school. Can I put something in her lunch that doesn't contain nuts but says "may contain nuts" ?

Check with the school, but if the rule is no you’re going to struggle to find many things that don’t say this...

I do agree that it's impossible if they want parents to exclude "may contain" but it might make them reassess their measures. In DS's year there is a child with a severe dairy allergy. The kids are eating in class at the moment (covid means hall is used for teaching) but the class aren't banned from bringing dairy; instead they all have to wash hands, faces and wipe desks after lunch. The child with the allergy sits at their own desk.

I had an argument with our nursery when DS was small because they were nut free but had no understanding of why. They seemed to be under the impression that only nut allergies could be fatal. They banned us from taking in almond milk for DS "because we are nut free" even though they admitted that it was only DS who had the peanut allergy and he was fine with almonds!

Original poster probably not unless you confirmed contents with a nut less trail of ingredients. Alternatively you would need to enquire if there are those with allergies at school. Think of it this way - if your child or teacher/staff member is openly known as nut allergic - would you feel comfortable if others don’t care? However by asking you seem a good conscientious sort so well done for asking but probably select alternative food options to to be on the safe side particularly in these Indian Covid times with little room for manoeuvre.

They add it on the packaging so they don’t get sued on the off chance a trace of nuts has made its way in there. Don’t put peanut butter in their sandwiches and don’t put a nut filled cereal bar in but I doubt many parents avoid ‘may contain nuts’, I never have.

Just to say- not all nut allergies are alike, my husband carries an epipen and is allergic to both ground and tree nuts, but he’s alright ‘around’ nuts and other people could eat them in the same room as him. A friend of ours, literally cannot be in the same room as open nuts and has gone into anaphylactic shock from this before on more than one occasion, it depends on the person and the severity of their allergy.

@ResIpsaLoquiturInterAlia

Original poster probably not unless you confirmed contents with a nut less trail of ingredients. Alternatively you would need to enquire if there are those with allergies at school. Think of it this way - if your child or teacher/staff member is openly known as nut allergic - would you feel comfortable if others don’t care? However by asking you seem a good conscientious sort so well done for asking but probably select alternative food options to to be on the safe side particularly in these Indian Covid times with little room for manoeuvre.

it's to about "not caring"

it's about living a practical life.

The child with the severe allergy surely manages their allergy in other places outside of school - they surely go to places like restaurants, supermarkets, cafes, play places, theme parks etc. None of these places are nut free.

Why should we all be extra selective in our choices at all times for a child that may or may not be in the vicinity and may or may not have a reaction... when that SAME CHILD is probably eating a "may contain traces of nuts" product without realising, or sitting next to a table with someone in a restaurant eating satay chicken, or wandering round a shop that has nuts out in baskets for purchase... or running round an indoor paly centre where little Alex has just scoffed a peanut butter sandwich 5 minutes before, and wiped their hands on their clothes?

I'm all for being sensible and such like - but...honestly, there's nuts in schools - no amount of "we're nut free" will prevent nuts being in schools...

The crazy thing is that the vast majority of families who bring in a packed lunch, aren't but free households either. Most families will have nut containing ingredients in their home, so even if you only buy prepackaged items which are guaranteed nut free, by making a sandwich to go with it, you are reintroducing that contamination risk. And I bet the contamination risk at home, where there may be some penut butter in the fridge, or the baklava is next to the cake, or the same knife has been used and not washed properly, is far greater than in a factory.

It's just butt covering from the factories really.

it's about living a practical life. this

Here is research

should peanuts be allowed in school? YES

This thread is quite humorous.
It's obvious some PPs have no real knowledge or experience of food allergies (which is fine but then why on earth would you respond to OP's post as if you know it all?!).
As a parent of a son with severe food allergies, yes OP, this is absolutely fine. The risk to the allergy sufferer is negligible and if all "may contains" were banned this would be very restrictive for the non food allergy kids.
These warnings are specifically for those with the food allergy. Some food allergy sufferers choose not to eat 'may contains', some do eat them.
As an aside it is seriously awesome you are asking. If all parents were this considerate, food allergy sufferers would have a much easier time of it.
Teaching your kid why it isn't safe to bring certain foods and discussing how dangerous the food could be to the allergic child is a great help to us food allergy parents!

@Babyboomtastic

The crazy thing is that the vast majority of families who bring in a packed lunch, aren't but free households either. Most families will have nut containing ingredients in their home, so even if you only buy prepackaged items which are guaranteed nut free, by making a sandwich to go with it, you are reintroducing that contamination risk. And I bet the contamination risk at home, where there may be some penut butter in the fridge, or the baklava is next to the cake, or the same knife has been used and not washed properly, is far greater than in a factory.

It's just butt covering from the factories really.

A mum in a lunchbox group I’m in on FB was told she could only put pre packaged foods in the school lunchbox to protect the allergy sufferer. I think this was a case of an over zealous teacher as when she queried this with the headteacher she was told it wasn’t necessary.

In practice, the vast, vast majority of parents will not think twice about sending food in with this warning, bearing in mind that it's on a majority of processed foods. So if you want to do it to make yourself feel virtuous, fine, but really it's going to be a drop in the ocean. Even supermarket bread has this kind of warning sometimes!

Sorry, on reflection that was unnecessarily snippy of me, I know you are just being considerate. It's the absurdity of the idea that every parent in a school should only send in fully traceable nut-free food for their kids that has got me riled up!! Presumably the same people suggesting this also think all food in my child's school should be dairy and egg free right from source? No? Why not?

@Bluebird76 I'm not trying to be virtuous, it was a genuine question as I have no idea about allergies.

@Bluebird76 oh ok fair enough

No, may contain is on so many things.

Ds has severe peanut allergy. He still eats ‘May contain nuts’ products. If it specifically says May contain peanuts I try and avoid but otherwise it’s literally on almost all packaged food.
Ie even the plain Greek yogurt the other day says this, it just means a nut product is produced in factory so could have been contaminated such as maybe company makes a yogurt with nut granola ontop as well.

Almost all packaged bread says May contained nuts, I assume most children are eating packed lunches made with shop bought rolls or bread. So the school can’t possible say the lunch is nut contamination free.

@DistrictCommissioner

Parents weren't even allowed to make a sandwich? 😨

Yeah, although as I say this was retracted when the parent queried it! But it’s actually the logical conclusion of avoiding any ‘may contain nuts’ products - my kitchen definitely contains nuts & my DC1 (not a nut free school) may have made her peanut butter sandwich on the counter minutes before I make my nut free school kids sandwiches...

@DistrictCommissioner

Yeah, although as I say this was retracted when the parent queried it! But it’s actually the logical conclusion of avoiding any ‘may contain nuts’ products - my kitchen definitely contains nuts & my DC1 (not a nut free school) may have made her peanut butter sandwich on the counter minutes before I make my nut free school kids sandwiches...

it's the "logical" conclusion when you overthink things... and start going down the rabbit hole of what you think is sensible...

Any child entering the school may have had traces of peanuts on their hands and clothes and sandwich bag etc because of situations you describe and others so unless they were being hosed down before entering the school, the allergen risk was still present, so it was absolutely bonkers to suggest that kids should only bring in pre-packed food solely to avoid contamination! (even if in their mind they were being "logical"!)

Tesco went through a stage where everything they sold was labelled to may contain nuts. Even their bottled water.

I'm mother of a child with severe allergies to nuts seeds and egg. I don't expect other parents to have to worry about what they are sending into school. My child sat and ate her lunch away from the other children and all children had a quick hand wash before they went out to play after lunch. Worked for us not one reaction her whole 5 years there.

You'll really struggle to find anything that doesn't say may contain

Think you are probably ok to put it in your child’s lunchbox
But it’s not just a legal disclaimer- my children have reacted to ‘May contain’ products too. I read it as does contain.

SoapboxFox
What a ridiculous statement 🙄

Why? It was meant to be a thoughtful comparison. I know someone who needed to avoid certain foods (which they had liked) and they told themselves it might as well be 'poison'.

A severely allergic person (or their parent) may not want to risk something that^^ 'may' contain a substance which is very dangerous to them. I was trying to put myself in their shoes and consider how worrying it must be.

Shame how some people on here don't give others the benefit of the doubt and just jump in to ridicule.

Thats fine in many places, but best to double check with the school.

My son has a dairy allergy, he eats things that say ‘may contain milk’ and it has never caused a reaction.

It's not a thoughtful comparison in this context. It's just a ridiculous thing to say. Most stuff says "may contain nuts" to cover the businesses who make it, not because there's a serious chance of nuts being present.

@SoapboxFox

*SoapboxFox What a ridiculous statement* 🙄

Why? It was meant to be a thoughtful comparison. I know someone who needed to avoid certain foods (which they had liked) and they told themselves it might as well be 'poison'.

A severely allergic person (or their parent) may not want to risk something that^^ 'may' contain a substance which is very dangerous to them. I was trying to put myself in their shoes and consider how worrying it must be.

Shame how some people on here don't give others the benefit of the doubt and just jump in to ridicule.

But we're not asking the child to eat poison.

If Alex wants to eat poison, because they've built up a resistance to it... then let them crack on, it won't kill the child.

And I still say that the child/parents would have thought manage the allergy everywhere else. So whilst I'm not advocating flinging peanut butter at the allergic child... Having a "may contain traces of nuts" is fine to have in school.

@SoapboxFox

*SoapboxFox What a ridiculous statement* 🙄

Why? It was meant to be a thoughtful comparison. I know someone who needed to avoid certain foods (which they had liked) and they told themselves it might as well be 'poison'.

A severely allergic person (or their parent) may not want to risk something that^^ 'may' contain a substance which is very dangerous to them. I was trying to put myself in their shoes and consider how worrying it must be.

Shame how some people on here don't give others the benefit of the doubt and just jump in to ridicule.

Speaking as the parent of a child with an allergy, your analogy was really unhelpful. I can’t create a world free of my child’s allergen so we have to find sensible ways to live. Banning all products which may contain nuts is not a sustainable practice and it is difficult to police. Far better to ban nuts themselves and enforce a rule that children do not swap items from their lunchboxes. A moderate rule, strictly enforced, is much more effective than a draconian rule which is unenforceable.