To want this stopped?!

[Notasperfectasallothermners]

Dd started secondary school in September. Loves it, really settled well - no worries regarding peers /work etc. However, had an issue with food tech last week where dd (vegi entire life) was given pre measured out ingredients to make biscuits, as dd didnt know what lard was she used it and brought the biscuits home. All dc sat and ate them, will admit they were nice! Until she mentioned lard and Googled it herself. Not a happy dd! Told her things happen and not to worry, not lovely to drop down in a heap this once sort of thing.
Rang the school to remind them she is vegi etc, mistakes happen - don't expect head on a platter etc...
Then yesterday she gets home, salad wrap for lunch, server wearing gloves to handle ingredients makes hers - after handling ham to the previous dc in the line! Rang school again, they will be speaking to the caterers today. Fed up.

@Abbylee how very dare you tar us all with the same brush?!

I work in a school kitchen and we take allergies, intolerances, personal/religious choices and food prep VERY SERIOUSLY!

we NEVER swap from meat to veggies without washing hands and cleaning down. Our fridges are meticulous in what's kept where in them. We use separate benches, utensils, ovens for gluten free foods, and the only thing that ever gets cooked in our deep fryer, is chips once every three week. On the odd occasion that we deep fry prawn crackers for Chinese New Year, the oil is then discarded and the fryer is cleaned out before being used again.

Our top priority is having a duty of care to provide all 420 of our kids with a dinner that is not contaminated with ANYTHING. We have over 25 children with allergies, intolerances, religious choices that we cater for and we do it very well.

And as for your saliva remark, that's just disgusting. That has never, and would never happen in our kitchen, regardless of any complaints.

I’m so surprised to see how many of you think it’s fine, and an overreaction. I’m a veggie and so are my children. I certainly wouldn’t eat something that had been in contact with meat.

I am surprised they still use lard in Home Economics. Presumably they should have said it contains animal products and ask if anyone is vegan/veggie. However, OTT about the dinner lady serving ham then vegetarian child.

I am sure in restaurants and factories there is a lot of cross contamination of vegetables and meat.

Using separate gloves / utensils for vegetarian food is a basic minimum standard in food preparation

i know the hospital i work in keeps it's veggies and meats in the same walk in cooler....and frozen veggie dishes and meat in the same deep freeze...oh my

I'm vegetarian but I think cross contamination is silly.
You aren't contributing to the meat industry in anyway by food being near meat.
Does she actually care about that one?
The lard is gross she should ask the teacher at the start of the lesson if anything is made of animals.

Pan is different as it'll cook in the fat and taste of meat.

Lets hope there's never an apocalipse.......????......

More uninformed / odd use of the snowflake term I see.

The term snowflake is correct!!!

Lots of snowflakes on mumsnet at the moment!

She's vegetarian not allergic to meat. Fine to not want lard but OTT to make a fuss about meat cross contamination

That with bells on, and if she was vegetarian for religious reasons doesn’t change the things. I think that if you are so fussed about criscontqmination, you should send her with a packed lunch (as we all, who have to avoid cross contamination, do!)

I think that’s disgusting - they used lard in biscuits?! Why? Totally unnecessary. And it would be a serious breach of health and safety if a shop assistant didn’t change gloves after handling meat. I’m with your daughter OP, I think the school teacher needs to go back to cooking school

Whilst my lad was veggie I used to make his lunch to take to school for this reason. Fine to ask the people in subway to change gloves, use different knife (in fact they always offered as soon as I ordered a meat free sub) but too much to expect of a busy school kitchen.

To those asking why religious reasons aren't given the same weight as vegetarian choices it's because freedom of religion is protected by the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Food preferences (rightly) are not.

The world's gone bloody snowflake mad.

Cultural/religious sensitivities are in NO WAY the same as choosing to be vegetarian. They are far more profound and sacred. The religions who don’t eat pork products have also been persecuted for centuries therefore out of respect it is v important to ensure there is no contamination. Unless of course vegetarians feel they’re just as persecuted as Muslims and Jews of course ......ffs ....

I'm not a veggie so I don't really see the problem with the above. I know a few vegetarians who wouldn't care about eating lard or cross contamination maybe they're just not very good vegetation... so tbh unless I was told, I wouldn't see a problem.
I agree she definitely needs to speak up because others may not know.

Also, I'd be amazed if it was animal lard to bake with, it's usually vegetable lard...

I really wish people would give over with the snowflake remarks; it makes you sound like sheep.

It is absolutely right that the gloves that had touched the ham shouldn’t have been used to make your DD’s lunch. She will need to learn to speak up, but I would write a note and send it in anyway.

@Pepperedbeef no, it's not too much to expect of busy school kitchen staff!

We take ALL allergies, intolerances, and Food preferences very seriously!

My school kitchen can't be the only one that does!

fave how can they keep track? My son is in a school of 900 pupils. He’s allergic to tree nuts and fish and self regulates his intake, it being safer to prep the food ourselves.

YANBU

(Someone i once knew, developed an intolerance to meat proteins, after years of being vegetarian. I think resturants just assumed it was a lifestyle choice, not allergy related. She would end up ill due to contamination on a regular basis. Quite shocking really.
Point being they dont know if its a dietary choice or not and should have better practises in place.)

@Pepperedbeef there may be differences in types of schools but I work in a primary school kitchen which serves up to 440 kids, everyday.

We have separate areas and separate staff for veg prep, meat prep, sweet prep, sandwich prep.

We clean down between prepping cheese/tuna/ham sandwiches, and each type of sandwich is then wrapped and kept separate from the others. Each 'flavour' of sandwich also has its own set of serving tongs to eliminate cross contamination.

We have approx 28 kids with allergies, intolerances, religious, lifestyle choices and we prep for all of them. These include allergies to wheat, gluten, orange juice, eggs, legumes, milk, nuts, fish. We have pupils who can only have halal food, vegetarian pupils who can have fish, vegetarians who don't have fish, pupils who don't have pork/beef, we even have a vegetarian who can't have Quorn.

We cook gluten free foods away from gluten foods, and we endeavour to offer gluten free puddings whenever we can so that our pupils have the choice of a gf biscuit or a muffin rather than fruit every single day, we include them as much as we can.

We constantly wash our hands, change gloves, and monitor each other to ensure we do everything possibly to provide safe, non contaminated, good food for all our children, it's a basic requirement of our kitchen, it's actually nothing special! The op (or rather, her daughter) has every right to expect to be offered a choice of food that has not come into contact with things she won't eat, for any reason.

fave that food prep is fantastic and ensures there’s no responsibility put on the serving staff to change gloves etc as the sandwiches are pre-packed. That’s the point I was making, with big line of hungry kids, it’s a lot to expect a server to change gloves. Any so called vegetarian who eats fish is a pescatarian, not a vegetarian.

I don't think YABU I have a veggie friend and would always wash my hands and not use same chopping board, utensils after meat

@Happydoingitjusttheonce we pride ourselves on the way we work. Rather than have separate lists for pescatarians (you'll always get someone who constantly asks which is which because as a whole, allergies/intolerances etc can be confusing) we list our kids as veggies can have fish, and veggies can't have fish.

I appreciate that in a comp setting, it's more like a cafeteria with bars, pizza bar, pasta bar, sandwich bar, hot dinner bar, sweet and pop fridge etc, but there's no excuse for not changing gloves if you make a meat sandwich and then the next person asks for egg salad. In fact, because you have to wash hands so much, it would even have been better for the server to remove the ham gloves and make the veggie sandwich with clean bare hands, then put the gloves back on.

All kitchens will also have a book (or should do) containing comprehensive lists of all the food used and what the individual ingredients are of each recipe/product. And any parent can request to see this list. That, I believe, is a legal requirement.