School rules and nuts

[Bagsalot]

My daughter is 11 yesterday was her birthday. She took an asda tray bake to school with her. She wasn't allowed to share it as apparently some where on the box it says may contain nuts. This has never been an issue before. Today an email came out stating no nuts or seeds allowed in school including lunchboxes. My daughter's in year 6 has been at the school since nursery age 2, this has never been mentioned. I've asked to see the risk assessment. I feel it's an unreasonable policy but possibly I'm being unreasonable

I wondered what had changed after 8 years

Well duh. It's a school, right? Have you noticed how they get new kids every September.

When my youngest dc was at school there was a dc with a very severe dairy allergy but the school was not dairy free?

Sorry @Andro. I only read the first and last page and ops comments, I missed that.

Nut free is reasonable- our school is nut free too. No peanut butter, no Nutella, no snickers, no nuts as snacks etc.
Banning anything that “may contain” is harsh, as that’s most normal foods.
DS’ friend has a nut allergy and he personally doesn’t eat “may contain”, but his mum doesn’t expect the rest of us to source completely safe snacks etc. Both home and school have alternative snacks for him.

BlatheringWuther the problem with sesame is that they are so charged with static electricity they get everywhere .

*Lynne Regent, Chief Executive of the Anaphylaxis Campaign, said:

“We recognise that this is an issue which generates strong views. Generally speaking, the Anaphylaxis Campaign would not necessarily support a blanket ban of any particular allergen in any establishment, including in schools. This is because peanuts and treenuts are only one of many allergens that could affect pupils, and no school could guarantee a truly allergen free environment for a child living with food allergy. We advocate instead for schools to adopt a culture of allergy awareness and education*

There is currently a global shortage of Epipens atm which may have something to do with it. We now have to ration them out to and many people are struggling to replace their expired ones/ carry the recommended number which will be a problem if the school keeps some.

What hasn’t changed in 8 years? How about the past few weeks. Haven’t you been watching the news? There’s much more awareness of the risks for individuals and for companies.
YABVU.

What has changed is the recent high profile cases and decisions have been made from there. This is not about banning nuts it about the change towards the potential of nuts traces.

All school should ban nuts. Its banning tray bakes that have been made in a factory that contains nuts.

A friends DS has an allergic reaction to eating a shortbread biscuit as it had minute traces of nuts (luckily it was not severe) but she is well aware of the fact she cannot ban all biscuits from being around him

@BlatheringWuther

The disposition to develeop allergies is quite often hereditary. This is going to sound really nasty... But one reason is that way back when, people with allergies would have died as children and not passed on their genes. Those without would still possibly have allergies in their genetic code and pass it on to their kids, who would then most likely die. So allergies weren't as common.

So would you all be happy making schools dairy-free? DD once had a severe reaction to a pizza-making session at nursery, even though she was sitting in the corner away from the others. I know a child severely allergic to sesame who would certainly be safer at school if no-one brought in hummus sandwiches. Oh wait, no, it's only nuts.

There are kids with life-threatening allergies to many, many foods. Unfortunately you have to learn to adapt. I sometimes feel like a nut ban is the easy way for schools to signal that 'oh yes we care about allergy', rather than actually ensuring that each and every child is kept safe. Our nursery room banned peanuts even though the allergies among the kids included dairy (3), hazelnut (1), sesame (1) and peanuts (0). That was mighty helpful, I can tell you

I’m really not sure what you hope to gain by asking for the risk assessment

Whether you agree or disagree with it, that’s the schools decision. The impact on your DD is tiny.

YABU to waste school time and resources for such a non issue

frogsoup if my child was at school with your child? Absolutely no problem with it. In fact, we’ve been in that position when ds3 was at nursery with a girl who had suffered anaphylaxis to dairy products. No dairy on the premises. Not one single parent had a problem with it.

I don’t keep a nut free home, in fact we eat a lot of nuts and nut products but I don’t send nuts to school, however my DC all have packed lunches and I can’t guarantee there hasn’t been any cross contamination.

I've asked to see the risk assessment because I can
Again. Why do you want to see it?

Don't think parents are entitled to see a schools risk assessments.

@frogsoup dairy allergies don’t tend to be as life threatening as nuts allergies but if it was then I’d happily send my DD dairy free or if I was that fussed i’d put her on school dinners then they can sort it.

"May contain nuts" is not very helpful labelling imho bec you can't tell whether it's arse-covering or that there's quite a high chance of it containing them
I fear imore and more "may contains" labels leaving people with less severe allergies more confused about what they can eat and parents not knowing what snacks they can send to school

AtSea1979 - that's the kind of dangerous message that blanket nut bans propagate. My allergy isn't all dairy, but a subsidiary - I have been hospitalised more times than I can recall, been in ICU more than 15 times and can't have my allergen in my house. Any allergy can be as life-threatening as a nut allergy, if you are anaphylactic to a food you can die!

My children are allergic to dairy. You wouldn't necessarily have a dairy ban because the products do not work the same.
Dairy will not become air born the same way nuts will.

OP. I will bet substantial money that your name is Karen and that you have a particular haircut which alerts any Manager within a 3 mile radius.

My ds has nut and seed allergy and schools should not be imposing allergy bans for numerous reasons. Its lazy and complacent and research shows has no affect on the number of reactions in schools, nor does it save lives. It also doesnt help with people who have abaphylaxis to other foods

@Atsea1979 um, what?! Dairy allergies can be anaphylactic and life-threatening just the same as peanut allergies. It's a total myth that they are less severe. But schools can't possibly ban dairy because it's too much of a pain. So our kids have to take their own precautions and we hope for the best. The idea that peanuts are the only 'real' allergy is only one of the unfortunate consequence of schools elevating that allergy above all others. (Though actually DDs schools do not ban nuts, in line with anaphylaxis campaign advice).

I fear imore and more "may contains" labels leaving people with less severe allergies more confused about what they can eat and parents not knowing what snacks they can send to school

I think this is the only way that it can go. It’s happening already; after all the Pret publicity there seem to be posters everywhere saying “we cannot guarantee...../may contain.....”. You can’t blame people for covering their own backs - but it must be a bloody nightmare if you have a serious allergy.

I probably worded it wrong. A lot of dairy allergies aren’t life threatening but some are as I said if there was someone in the school with a severe one i’d happy see the school ban it.

Doesn't most things say "may contain nuts" I see it all the time, lunch boxes are a nightmare as I never know what to pack in them, never know what's safe

Can I ask those people with nut allergy's, how the hell do you cope outside your own home? Like do you not go to restaurants/supermarkets,do you not take public transport? Go to concerts/theatres, basically anywhere that's a contained space?