Deciding whether to let allergic DC take school meals?

[Weta]

I never thought I'd have to make this decision but from September our school will finally be offering hypoallergenic meals at the canteen on production of a medical certificate (we are not in UK).

What questions do I need to ask to make sure that the meals will really be ok for a child with a serious allergy to dairy?

Thanks!

start with observing how the meals are served to the children.

Are they sharing the serving spoons?

ask them about food prep, do they make allergy meals in a seperate area with a member of staff just assigned to that role?

my first thoughts anyway. is this helpful?

Thanks Eragon... I won't have any chance to observe the meals being served as it's all quite closed off to parents, but I can ask the school nurse and the meal provider about how it all operates - so I will definitely raise those questions.

I'm pretty sure it will be ok given that it is a new thing they are bringing in, but want to be on the ball about the questions I need to ask!

I'm not in the UK either but our school brings in hot lunches for families that would like it. This is their allergy policy...might be some info. here you can use in your research.

Hello Weta.

That sounds promising but obviously adds something else to be thinking/worrying about.

I'm also considering this for my DD. She also has a long list of allergies so am watching with interest. I never thought it would be possible but DD's allergy nurse says alot of multiple allergic children do have school dinners.

I've been given sample menu's by the school to review but I need to ask for the ingredients next. They've already said that to avoid cross contamination there are 2 people only responsible for plating up foods for allergic kids so that there aren't any cross contamination issues.

It all sounds ok but I still feel really nervous about it so if there are any tips I'd also be interested. I'm also worried that DD will end up having jacket potatoes everyday as that seems the safest option at the moment.

dont forget to ask YOUR CHILD what they want to do.
I offered to sort out every menu for my son with the school but he said he was happy to eat his packed lunch as he felt safer that way.

I only checked with the cook for special meals such as christmas dinner etc.

BB - no equivalent, just our little allergy group we have recently started, although the nurses at the hospital do provide epipen training. But there are 2 excellent school nurses (who I'll be seeing on Thursday) who I imagine will have been involved in the introduction of this new arrangement. Great to hear your DS has been fine, that's really encouraging.

Tracey - thanks very much, will have a look at that.

Mumat39 - good luck with your own decisions!!

Eragon - don't worry, he's nearly 9 so I wouldn't have got this far with it if he wasn't dead keen to have a school lunch (he was whooping and leaping up and down with excitement when we mentioned it). As I've mentioned before, he is making good progress on his desensitisation programme, which definitely makes us more relaxed as presumably a trace of milk or even some kind of cross-contamination shouldn't be too much of a problem any more. Whether he likes the lunches will be another matter (!) as he's not used to having other people's cooking. On the other hand, if it does all look ok it will be a great weight off my shoulders not to have to organise all the lunches any more :)