To think this 'nut free policy' is OTT for a school

[MerryMarigold]

So, letter home about next term's 'nut free' policy and I think it's a bit extreme but tell me what you think. In packed lunches (I will have 3 having packed lunch next year), we are not allowed to include:

• Fruit and cereal bars which contain nuts
• Sesame seed rolls
• Nutella
• Peanut butter
• Cakes made with nuts
• Muesli bars
• Baklava/ Nougat/ Turkish Delight
• Any packets of nuts

I would assume we are not allowed to give them pistachios in a Tupperware box either.

Anyway, my point is that how can they police it this closely? I know some kids cannot come into ANY contact with nuts, but for example, my kids would have nuts in granola at breakfast and probably not always wash their hands before school (if they remembered to clean their teeth when they first get up). I also refuse to check the ingredient list of everything I put into a packed lunch for 3 children so there are bound to be nuts in something they end up having.

Nuts are very healthy and nutritious, so we basically need to swap nut based products for something less healthy. I am most upset about the Muesli bars and no cakes made with nuts. Ds1 is a major food-refuser. He has never managed school dinners and food at home is an issue too. He nearly always has a muesli bar in his lunch, which I suppose I will need to substitute with biscuits. And sometimes I would include cakes made with nuts just to up his nutrition at lunchtime a bit. He doesn't like any form of meat, fish or cheese in his sandwiches.

I do sympathise that there are (a very few) people who have a 'life threatening reaction to nut products' (quoted on the 'nut free policy' letter). However, I would assume they do carry an epi-pen as it is impossible to create a completely nut free environment in a large school of children who are eating nuts at least at home. So, in reality it is not life threatening unless there is a child who has an unknown severe nut allergy. I would even be compassionate if it was stated that a child (without mentioning names) had had a reaction several times in school, but I very much doubt a child has reacted at school, and there may not even be a child with a severe nut allergy, so this is just scare mongering really.

SO, I do need to feel more positive about this and the extra work it will cause me, the extra moaning from my child and the reduction in nutrition. Please tell me off gently! I've had a bad night with not much sleep though, so please bear with me.

It's really not a big deal to have a nut free policy in a school. DS1 is allergic to cashews and pistachios, and we have to make sure he regularly eats peanuts and almonds to maintain tolerance to them, but we manage that in meals he has at home. Dead easy to do a packed lunch without nuts.

Waxybean A nut-free policy may work in a primary school but not in secondary where a youngster may buy a bag of peanuts on the way in and eat them in anywhere.

bruffin - You're not taking into consideration primary school kids don't keep themselves to themselves, they are invariably messy, get food on their hands which then transfers to door handles, soap dispensers etc on the way to wash their hands after eating their peanut butter sandwich. They spend a lot of time very close to each other, if they can transfer lice then they can certainly transfer peanut butter or other nut products to each other. In a busy dining hall I don't think it's practical to have to keep such an eagle eye on kids.

I am
as i said my ds managed to get all the way through school with no nut bans,, they seem to manage other allergies without banning them, hummous is just as sticky and my ds is allergic to both ingredients, they never ban that.
There is no difference between peanut butter and hummous on the allergy front. When ds was at primary school he was allergic to peanuts, but has out grown peanuts but not tree nuts or sesame, and found chickpeas instead of peanuts (interesting as same family)

Kapas experience show the importance of teaching hand washing after nuts from a young age.

Ok

YABVU.

My sister is a school teacher, in her class is a pupil with a sever nut allergy. Her older sister who had a nut allergy too died due to anaphylactic shock. The school is nut free. No parents made an issue of this and are very supportive.
Think if the shoe was on the other foot, and your child had a sever nut allergy. How would you want the school to handle this?

Bruffin, this was a pre-school and my son has severe reactions when touched by nuts, I have sat and watched the children eat and with the best will in he world they touch each other and the tables and cups so it's not just about wadhing hands after the meal - oh unless you'd like the allergy kids to sit on their own at a seperate table?

My son finished nursey recently and I wanted to buy some cakes to take in for his last day I was shocked that I couldn't find any that didn't say may contain nuts ( he's not allergic but I was worried someone else might be). We also have a friend that has a severe but allergy but strangely he isn't allergic to almonds or coconuts as they are seeds. I would not have known that.

I think that most primary schools have nut free policies for good reason. By secondary school the children with allergies can avoid nuts more easily and whilst their friends are allowed to bring nuts to school they won't (if they are good friends). One of DD's friends (age 16) has such a severe nut allergy that DD won't even eat anything with nuts for breakfast as she would then have to avoid talking to her friend when she gets to school.

Just put a 'this lunch was made in a kitchen containing nuts and therefore we cannot guarantee the produce inside has not been contaminated' disclaimer on the outside of the box and bingo,you're covered to put what you want in it 😁
On a more serious note,contact an allergies organisation,ask for some statistics ie deaths in uk schools proven 100% to be nut related.
We have boxes of epipens at ours and not one has ever been used yet ' nor have any of the students ever used them out of school. It's absolute nonsense making a school nut free.
Oh and just to point.out,many moisturising creams/emolients contain nut oil so are the school banning those too?

You should try a little empathy. There are people out there with bigger problems than worrying about what they can put on their kids sandwich in 3 seconds besides nutella or peanut butter. As inconvenient as it may be to you, it is actually a life threatening issue for some people.

YABU. Most schools and nurserys are nut free now. My DD1 has a nut allergy. She has two epi-pens at nursery and will have the same when she starts school in September. She is only 4 and, although she understands that nuts will make her ill and that she should eat them, she is too young to understand that nuts can be added to lots of other foods and she shouldn't eat those. Her friends are also too young to understand not to share their 'nutty' food with her.

I don't think it's essential to send your child to school with the snacks you mention at all. If they are asking you not to bring them in they have a child with an allergy. It is life threatening and the teachers can't monitor everyone's lunch boxes so they ask parents not to pack snacks containing nuts just to make sure the child doesn't come into contact with nuts. They are young children, secondary age children are old enough to look after themselves. If your child had a nut allergy you wouldn't be saying this. To say they just need an epi pen is ludicrous.

That should be "shouldn't eat them" obviously

The biggest concern with the nut free policy is that although parents may check products they buy in September are nut free - manufacturers may add nuts or change factory in October so they are no longer nut free or they may contain nuts. What happens if grandad or aunty has to pack lunch one morning - will they Definately remember to check?

I have a family member with a food intolerance and I check labels every time - I'm great fun to shop with!

It is highly unlikely parents will check every product every time they purchase it. I also am pretty sure nuts will be in far more products then the public think - who'd have guessed Turkish delight. For example I was pretty shocked at how many yoghurt are not vegetarian.

I certainly think that the school need to assist an allergic child but if my DC was allergic to nuts I'm not sure this policy would fill me with confidence.

Mumstheword
Go on the allergy board, most parents on there are anti food bans.

It's annoying but YABU.

Just think how absolutely terrifying it must be for the parents of these children.

My children are at a school which has a nut free policy. There are I think about 6 children (out of 300) who have nut allergies, I know 2 of them are very severe. They miss out on quite a lot. I know some of the other parents are genuinely scared about inviting them round as one girl has other allergies too and people are just too worried about having her over :(

It's an independent school so we don't have to worry about packed lunches fortunately, but there is a lot of fundraising baking.. however the guidance on this is that you just don't bake anything with nuts in. It doesn't extend to ensuring that no ingredient has ever come into contact with a nut. All the things on your list though do contain nuts. They could actually kill a child with a severe nut allergy.

It's completely stupid to ban nuts.

Parents will buy chocolate spread and tell their dc to say it's chocolate spread not hazelnut or Nutella for a real life example. So banning it makes it impossible to control where as if they had an allergy table for Ks1 dc and a dinner lady who knew the dc to hover around it to monitor what that table had it would be easier to control and keep dc safe.

Our school are very strict as there are children with nut allergies. We accept it and support it. It's not worth risking a child's life and whatever the parents on there say against the bans with regards to nuts it needs to be a blanket rule in primary school. Our school is also strict about having healthy snacks. Only fruit, yoghurt etc allowed, no cake or biscuits, now that is silly as school dinners get puddings every day

So if parents buy chocolate spread and tell them to say it's chocolate spread what's wrong with that exactly, unless of course you actually mean Nutella 😂

YABVVU! If it was YOUR child with a life threatening allergy would you be ok for them to "just use an epi-pen" are you aware that severe allergic reactions get worse with every exposure? Maybe you'd be happy if the affected child was denied an education just so your son could have a muesli bar in his lunch box??

the teachers can't monitor everyone's lunch boxes

Then they can't know that the lunch boxes are nut-free.

This is why nut bans are not a good way of protecting allergic children: they give a false sense of security.

I looked up Fry's Turkish Delight online, and the only thing it says under allergent information is milk. So no nuts in the ingredients for that variety of Turkish Delight.

It makes me wonder why there's a blanket ban on Turkish Delight rather than "no Turkish Delight containing nuts" as with cakes, cereal bars etc.

Although having said that, Turkish Delight is hardly the healthiest thing to put in a lunchbox.

YABU! It's a pain in the arse, yes... But better than a dead child. (It IS that serious)

I think finding a muesli bar that doesn't contain nuts can barely be classed as 'lots of extra work'. To some extent I do understand your point and parents should be able to control the content of their child's lunch, but in the bigger picture, what's more important - your sons fussy eating habits (perhaps this will get him to eat different things; when hungry a child WILL eat!) or the potential for a child's life to be threatened. If I knew my child's nutty muesli bar had caused another child pain and suffering I would feel absolutely terrible.

Whether or not you know if a child has an allergy is irrelevant; the school cannot disclose that information to other people, it's basic data protection.

As for another poster who asked 'where are all these allergies coming from- I don't remember them when I was at school' - firstly, allergies couldn't be as easily identified then. Secondly, you may have just had a school that had no children with nut allergies. Lastly, it isn't a consporacy, the government aren't adding ingredients to give people allergies; it would be pretty counter productive to render a person incapable of eating a lot of foods they get revenue from.

I really despair for some people.