or have the school gone bonkers?

[ohballs2013]

got a letter last night, in the new teacher info pack.
the school have said that as of the new school term a few more items have been added to the not allowed in lunch box list.
we already had the normal,
no nuts
no fizzy drinks
no bars of chocolate

now we also have

no bananas
no berry fruit, including anything containing berry fruit, such as smoothies, youghurts, cereal bars etc
no fish
no eggs
no crisps
no citrus fruits
no peices of meat, ie chicken legs.

now i get that you have to protect as many kids with allergies as possible..but WTF. is it not going a bit mad?
my own child has coeliacs, so i know all about limited diets, but im astonished at this.

I remember we couldnt send in cereal bars as the LEA considered them unhealthy yet served cake and custard for puddings see it is a conspiracy

My DGC would be going home for lunch or eating nothing then as is a food 'refuser' and unfortunately has a limited diet.

I will guarantee that school dinners will include the above list (my school does and their home-cooked food is delicious).

I would want detailed reasons for that crazy list and if they're not forthcoming I'd be on to the governors and the LA pronto.

Hope the OP reports back...

They would also need to explain more. I mean people won't necessarily be aware of derivatives in the food. For example they will pack a smoothie that doesn't contain berries but not realise there's lemon or lime juice in it. Many yogurts will contain traces if citrus even if they have gone for peach flavour as opposed to berries. It needs to be clearly stated and listed what foods it would rule out and they could provide a list of acceptable items.

There must be some sane (ish) reason

Perhaps it isn't about allergies at all?

Could the berries, bananas chicken legs be because of mess/ food poisoning/ ant problem?

A box with festering fish, overripe soft fruit etc would smell and attract insects

As someone who suffers food related anaphylaxis even I think this is crazy. It is only very rare cases where non ingestion of a food stuff causes an allergic reaction.

Citrus fruits can be a cause of eczema if skin contact is involved (my mum suffers but still eats them) but isn't fatal

The nuts & healthy eating related stuff ie fizzy drinks crisps etc is sensible but the rest is utterly bonkers.

Pls come back and tell us what the school says.

YANBU. That is one extensive list.

What puzzles me is that Primaries are very lunch box aware but the minute they get to High School anything goes.

I never knew at sesame counted as nuts.

I thought "nuts" meant nuts and peanuts. Are there other seeds that are affected? (I'm not a gratuitous hazard, btw, and the DCs all have school dinners at the moment).

You should see what they provide for school dinners at ours. Much of it is the most processed nonsense imaginable.

I would think that a severely allergic child is starting in September. And that the chicken leg has been tacked on* as a bit of a rushjob, I bet there has been an incident with chicken leg at a school recently.

Do ask for an explanation. The severely allergic child q likely to not have sch dinners, for obvious reasons, hence new pack lunch list.

*awful pun about chicken leg being tacked on, sorry!

Yes, definitely ask about school dinners.

No food is banned at our school. My dd has a peanut allergy. There;s a girl in her class who has anaphylaxis to preservatives. You can't ban everything.

Some people with nut allergies are fine with seeds - but then that's where this list doesn't give sufficient details.

It is too extensive and can't be due to anaphalaxis for all of those ingredients, surely?

I'm wondering if they just need to take special precautions around the severely allergic child, in that case Boys - I don't mean segregating them but maybe having a TA sat next to them at lunchtime, making sure there is no contamination.

I don't think it is a great idea to restrict everyone else SO massively, I mean the world is full of bananas and people eating them. Reasonably, it might be better to implement some safeguards rather than stop anyone bringing a banana to school.

That list is ridiculous. Absolute insanity.

Our school really pushes school dinners as the healthy choice but they are shit
They use chartwells and cost £1:99
Kids get

Tiny portions
unlimited salad is limited and is wilted iceberg lettuce,tomato and cucumber.
Food often runs out so kids get something diffrent or a small portion that wouldnt fill a barbie up and chips
Desserts are all spongy with custard or a small brownie
Jackets aregood but often they run out of topping and just give them a plain potato potato and a small bit of butter, nothing else on the plare

Im not saying i serve my kid mung beans and alfalfa for lunch but I feed them better than that for £10 a week

Also isn't it considered the wrong thing now, to stop nuts being brought in? I thought that it had been decided by someone that this wasn't necessarily helpful. Sorry not very up to date on these things.

No bananas? No berry yoghurt?

Yes, the school is bonkers. The crisps and the pieces of meat (with bone) are the only items on that list that it might possibly make sense for the school to ban.

Complain, complain, and get other parents to back you up if necessary. They are doing the children real harm by banning all these different elements of a healthy diet.

Right. Practically speaking. Let's break this down.

'we already had the normal,
no nuts (allergy risk)
no fizzy drinks (spillage risk, bad for teeth)
no bars of chocolate (basically not that good for you)

now we also have

no bananas (? allergen - can't think of anything else)
no berry fruit, including anything containing berry fruit, such as smoothies, youghurts, cereal bars etc (again must be an allergy thing)
no fish (? ")
no eggs (? ")
no crisps (healthy eating thing?)
no citrus fruits (allergen)
no peices of meat, ie chicken legs.' (bone risk)

It's got to be allergy related, hasn't it?

Ask to see the risk assessment, they are meant to do one before implementing these rules.

To of made those decisions and make policy based on it, they have to have done a risk assessment.

They won't of done one,

they are just making up nonsense, ring the local council and ask what their guidelines are for schools to make these decisions, they will tell you this is against policy.

And how far does it go? Loads of things contrain citric acid including bread .

It sounds ridiculous, and my child would have a yoghurt, and maybe an apple (better than yesterday when she ate 3 tomatoes but still...).

Apart from the crisps, everything on your new banned list is healthy.

At our school, parents are not allowed to add cake to packed lunches, yet the school dinners kids get sponge cake and custard for pudding .

I think parents are due a food revolution of their own.

Aren't tomatoes citrus too?