School catering company asking for proof of my kids allergies before they are allowed school dinners.

[CovidStoleTheRainbow]

Background - my child is anaphylactic to dairy, egg, banana and nuts.
A less severe allergy to wheat, soya, shell fish.

He's entitled to free school meals for a couple of months and we figured he could have jacket potato.

School said not til we filled in a form.
The Chartwells form said not til we have given proof of allergies.
I thought they were joking so I filled in the form but didn't send 'proof'.
School asked for proof, I asked school to photo copy my child's anaphylaxis care plan and send them that.

Got a letter today from Chartwells, saying thanks for the proof of the foods he's severely allergic to, but now prove he's allergic to soya, wheat and shell fish.

I'm a bit 'what the fuck?!' for two reasons.

First of all - proof?! Why? Just allow his limited diet and let him eat a fricking hot spud.

Second of all, the waiting list for the allergy clinic in my area is 2 years before coronavirus issues and it's a fight to get on the list at all so there's kids out there with little to no proof they have allergies or intolerances to food, and many of them will be from families in poverty well in need of free school meals.

Yes I get there will be people who randomly not wanting their kid to eat gluten but with allergies on the rise in the way that they are, they will be the absolute lowest common denominator.

Do they? Which parents are they? Can you show me?

@CovidStoleTheRainbow
I have had all of these in the last two years...
The ones who gave their child bags of sweets after saying they have a sugar allergy
The ones who gave their child cheese strings after saying they are vegan
The ones who gave their child Nutella spread after saying an allergy to all nuts
The ones who gave their child tuna after saying they are strict vegetarian
The ones who gave their child ham after saying they are strict Jewish
The ones who gave their child a happy meal to take to an after school club every day after saying they can’t have too much salt or fat due to only having one kidney
The ones who gave their child standard chunky pancakes after saying they are GF

cabbageking they don't have to cater for ethical vegans. They are strongly encouraged to though. And it's likely ethical veganism will become a protected characteristic in the not to distant future which will force their hand.

@Dilemmmmma yes they have changed quite a bit recently. Mainly in that they take everything more seriously than ever. We have allergy training coming out our ears right now. I get a regular text update reminding me to be allergy aware and double check everything.

And on another thread a parent was being advised to make up allergies to get healthier school meals. Asking for proof is the consequence of that type of behaviour.

I find that although waiting lists say 2 years, it's not a blanket case.
For those with serious cases and are seen more by medics, they rightfully go up the waiting list.

Parents lying is a bit of a nightmare as well in the school planning wise. If the allergy requires an epi, staff need training.
If there is no care plan other symptoms can easily get overlooked.

I unintentionally outed a parent about their child's allergies. New starter and lots of notes from the previous school about this. We were crapping ourselves a bit to be honest about the severity of it all from the parents via the previous school.

Thing was home were providing snacks full of the allergy products. Staff kept thanking the parents and saying along the lines of stop he cannot eat them, parents would shrug and say we have plenty at home, share with whoever can have them. Lunch choices were also vastly reduced as a result.

Jacket potato daily of course is naff. However, due to allergies and other health issues for some this is all they can have in schools/colleges/care homes/hospitals etc.

On another thread a parent was being advised to make up allergies to get healthier school meals. Asking for proof is the consequence of that type of behaviour

Yes, I saw that ... who'd be involved in school meal provision with that kind of thing going on?

I had to pay £20 for a gp letter listing DS's allergies before the school would agree to let him have school dinners. If they go by parents say so then they'll be catering to all sorts of nonsense dietary requirement.

Chartwells run a number of schools across the country. In some areas they have a high turn over of staff. (they are not nice to work for either) so not every member of staff will know off the top of their head how many allergies/who has them/the severity etc etc. They have a folder in the kitchen with all of the above info in, it is their for all staff to read and know and update as necessary. If the head cook calls in sick and they send someone from another unit to cover they have to read the file before they can start work, this ensures they don't accidentally kill a child.

It also covers their arse insurance wise. You provide info saying child is allergic to abc. You don't say child is allergic to xyz as well.
They serve child xyz. Child is ill or dies. They have proof you did not tell them of xyz only abc.
Also covers your self too. You provide info for abc. They serve child abc. You can sue.....

I don't get what the drama is. Provide them. With the info asked for. Chartwells work within the school, they are not part of the school. It is not the schools responsibility to pass this info along, it is yours as a parent. Gdpr comes in to play too, as they are separate "companies", the school should not be sharing medical info with an outside agency. (I know that's shit but some schools will play that card)

I had to provide doctors evidence for daughters allergies, the school/ local authority arranged for us to see a specialist, to provide the proof, so we did.

If they weren’t given proof, every crazy parent would demand ridiculous special diets for their children..

For example a mum a nursery, who was extra careful with her child and eggs, the grandparents were worried, all we parents ( all volunteers) we re worried about giving the child the wrong food, after a barrage of tests, he had no allergy.

I imagine all the chocolate she stuffed into that child, might have made him a little ill though 🤣🤣🤣

Which schools does Chartwells run?

They are not a MAT or academy sponsor?

It's no different giving to giving the class teacher all correct allergy and other medical info.

Whenever stuff used to change with my own I took a couple of copies - 3 in reception (one for main file, nurse and kitchen) and another for the class staff.
Could hardly turn round and bitch about stuff going wrong if they weren't aware.

Dear OP if u want someone else to have responsibility to feed your child who has numerous allergies they need proof of said allergies for insurance reasons. When a caterer u cannot always guarantee everything has what it contains as good supplies to them comes from all over and from different companies. They in turn will have suppliers who equally cannot guarantee exactly every ingredient. If the school caterers accidently serve yr DC a dinner that contains something your DC is allergic to and God forbid is severely I'll you can sue them ( and probably would). So, therefore they have to be heavily insured to take this into account because they cannot guarantee 100% that the food they supply dies not contain one of the foods your DC is allergic to because of reasons I have already stated. So, therefore, your best option is to provide your DC's dinner yourself in the form of a pack up which you will then be 100% sure has nothing in it that your DC is allergic to.

It’s about liability.

School kitchens are small (and I’ve been an assistant cook in one, anything to pay the bills).

Even if you were to request a spud a day, the company needs to ensure that the other foods on the menu do not include allergens that your child or others may be sensitive to that will be kept or used in the school kitchen.

In an extreme example, if your child were allergic to shellfish & the menu item of the day was lobster, your child’s lowly jacket spud still has the potential to be cross contaminated with the allergen your child may be killed by.

Or, more sensibly, the sunflower margarine that goes into your child’s potato is suddenly switched to a factory processing dairy (if that’s one of their allergies). The meal provider & catering managers would need to know exactly which allergens their children had to ensure a safe product is used within the school kitchen.

Hence why the children with allergies (that have been verified by Doctor’s or Consultant’s letters) had their photo & allergy record pinned clearly at EVERY serving hatch point.

It’s for your child’s safety & theirs.

My mum was in school meals for 47 years. She saw incidences of anaphylaxis, one fatal & several with happier outcomes. These events will never leave her. It’s not just about financial protection, it’s about protecting the welfare of their staff. And it’s a hard, physical job at minimum wage. One of the children who collapsed was early KS1. And it was a tragic outcome. Your consultant letter could avoid this terrible situation.

And OP I do understand, as the mother of a child with multiple allergies (even allergic to the carrier solution in the allergy prick tests & the sun). But it’s not about your wants, it’s about balancing the needs of everyone in that school community. And of course, about protecting everyone’s child.

P.s which may not be 100% safe either!

Centrifugal, it can't be about liability. If they insist on having proof of allergies before they will stop giving a child food to which they have told they are allergic, they risk making those children ill and therefore they risk getting sued. If it were about liability they would play it safe and accept what parents tell them.

Vegan was determined by a judge to be a protected characteristic based on philosophical belief

Ot was only an "extreme veganism". It has to affect daily apsects of your life and be an actual belief like in the guy's case. No leather, no wool, very careful life and reportedly he reportedly didn't take bus because it crashed into and killed insects and small animals.
THAT strong belief. Not just "normal" veganism. It was really interesting.

Just to note; the unfortunate incidences occurred over 30 years ago, before these allergy protocols were put into place & epipens/ject pens were more commonplace. Even the kitchen staff were trained in basic children’s first aid as their helplessness was pinpointed as a factor in trauma management.

My youngest has a care plan and the school have it. During lockdown my eldest became allergic to a food and I spoke to the GP who just said avoid it. Don't worry about going to the allergy nurse. In that case the food she was allergic to was specific and never in anything else. She's old enough to spot it and say 'I can't have that'. Although funnily enough a special bag was made up for her with a dietary sticker on it. The entire contents were the food she is allergic to The school did phone me to let me know what had happened as my DD is old enough to tell me herself. The school asked me to complete their allergy form and I questioned whether the one I had sent in at the start of term was sufficient or if they needed another one. They were very apologetic but yes just a form filled in by me was enough for her.

Dear OP if u want someone else to have responsibility to feed your child who has numerous allergies they need proof of said allergies for insurance reasons

No, they don't. If they went to their insurers and said OP had told them her child had allergies but had not produced proof, no insurer in a million years would tell them to insist on proof before taking that food off the menu for that child. Because those insurers would far rather that they avoided the risk by taking OP's word for it.

I definitely think asking for evidence is best policy—not just to weed out people making things up, but actually to be 100% sure the information they are getting is acccurate. For example if there are language barriers with a family and they get told something slightly incorrect, they could end up killing a child. A short letter by a doctor that uses the correct terminology for everything means they can be confident they have the correct information.

It’s partly to cover themsleves—e.g. wheat vs gluten, prawn vs shellfish, peanut vs nut, etc are all errors that might happen otherwise. Yes it’s a pain but not every parent is as on top of details like this. If a child has multiple allergies, one could be forgotten by a parent. In some cases e.g. if prescribing a potentially clashing medicine a doctor will want to see medical notes not just trust what they are told is a 100% well remembered account.

It's really annoying. I have a child with consultant diagnosed lactose intolerance.

The caterers don't believe intolerance exist. So I can either submit medical evidence and have her eat no dairy at all (against her NHS care plan! Which is to maintain eating the minimum level of dairy she can manage without symptoms) or I can pretend she doesn't have it and leave her to make the choices.

Thank god she is old enough to choose her own food now because I definitely looked like 'making stuff up parent' who says their child can only eat dairy sometimes.

That's what her care plan says to do!

@Cygne

Centrifugal, it can't be about liability. If they insist on having proof of allergies before they will stop giving a child food to which they have told they are allergic, they risk making those children ill and therefore they risk getting sued. If it were about liability they would play it safe and accept what parents tell them.

It’s the opposite—they say they won’t feed the child until they have evidence of what the child can and can’t eat.

Either situation you are describing is massively risky, and any decent school would refuse to feed children without clarity of the situation.

@CovidStoleTheRainbow

Im posting this again and highlighting it because people are missing it

Second of all, the waiting list for the allergy clinic in my area is 2 years before coronavirus issues and it's a fight to get on the list at all so there's kids out there with little to no proof they have allergies or intolerances to food, and many of them will be from families in poverty well in need of free school meals.

I can get a letter from my consultant to prove his allergies. I can give him the same packed lunch.

But what about those who haven't had a diagnoses...????

Since this seems to be your issue and not what’s in your OP, it’s very rare to get to be school age without a food allergy being noticed and confirmed. Other severe allergies that come on out on the blue usually require hospitalisation and the discharge letter is deemed adequate whilst awaiting further tests.

It’s the opposite—they say they won’t feed the child until they have evidence of what the child can and can’t eat.

Either situation you are describing is massively risky, and any decent school would refuse to feed children without clarity of the situation

But that is even more risky, because it's discrimination on the grounds of disability. And it's not necessary, because they could avoid the risk by taking OP's word for it. Unless they want to pay for a comprehensive set of allergy tests themselves.

My son has a nut allergy. I was thinking what proof I would be able to give.

He is in primary school and earlier in the year was discharged from the allergy clinic as we have avoided a reaction for several years.

He will now not have further tests or appointments at hospital. We are to manage his allergy on our own.

Our only proof is the updated allergy plan from this year... which I assume will have to serve him into the future as his allergy is not going away.

For the OP I would try sending an older letter. I'm not sure why a very recent letter is needed if your existing letters state the presence of a persistent allergy.

This doesn't seem to be an issue for us in our school as the catering is nut free as standard so nut allergies tend to be forgotten about (a whole other thread...). Although I might have needed to send proof at 1 point in the past.