To email school about them banning any food that "may contain traces of nuts"?

[PartyGoose]

Had an email last night from DD's school (it's a school that goes right through from 3-18 so covers all age groups) saying that as of today give us plenty of notice why don't you no food can be brought onto school premises that contains nuts or "may contain traces of nuts" due to a child with a severe nut allergy starting there.

I can't see how this is workable. It rules out about 50% of bought food, and 100% of food made/prepared in my kitchen as we eat a lot of nuts at home.

Obviously I am more than willing to avoid sending any food that actually has nuts in, and I'm going to take extreme care to check labels etc going forward.

But...surely they can't expect everyone to avoid anything that "may contain traces of nuts"? That's just not doable for most people.

It's not the nuts that are the problem @MzHz . It's the school's request to not send in anything that 'may contain traces of nut'. That would be all the food in her house as she uses nuts a lot.

Most schools don't request this.

I'm not angry about the school going nut free. I've said many many times on this thread that I think it's fair and will be cooperating to the best of my ability.

I'm low level annoyed that they gave us less than 24 hours notice of the change and I think it was poor practice and risked parents not seeing the email in time.

I'm also low level frustrated by the poor comprehension skills of many posters who don't seem to be able to read/understand what I'm actually saying.

But this post came from, believe it or not, a place of concern for the allergic child. If the child is really so allergic that all foods which may contain traces of nuts (as opposed to just all food that actually definitely does contain nuts ) need to be banned from school, then there's going to be a problem, because I can't at present guarantee that there are no nut traces in the food I send because I have a nut-using kitchen.

Maybe it's just shoddy wording on the school's part and food that "may contain traces" is actually fine. Maybe the child is really so allergic that all food brought to school needs to be guaranteed nut-free. I need to know which it is so I can make my best efforts to help protect the child! And how better to find out than to actually ask for clarification?

Schools tend to enforce this policy if there is a DC who will react badly to nuts and die pretty immediately compared to other DC with the same allergy regardless of épi pens. When I was younger a DC would die every week so it seemed from nut allergies. It's very quick acting.

The allergic DC tend to sit on a designated table that's been specially cleaned or at least they should do with their friends if it's a half decent school

Australian schools have done this for a decade now, with absolutely no problems at all whatsoever. It's very easy to stick to. Just don't bring in peanut butter or Nutella sandwiches, nut bars or actual loose nuts. I doubt many people cook with nuts all that often anyway, no one I know does, and I may once or twice a year when I make a carrot cake, but that's it. It's not something most people cook with all that often which is why it's so easy to ban.

Poor communication is absolutely the way schools operate and have done since the dawn of time.

guessing your dc are little, cos if you had been in the school system for anything longer than a few years, you’d know how bad schools are at this stuff

mind you, I dare say a lot of parents have had a sharp shock due to the pandemic in that we’ve not had “normal” level of school miscommunication for a while.

our primary head scheduled an all parents (No siblings) meeting for 3 days time, with the glib offer that as the meeting would probably finish towards the end of the day, about 2.30, that they would be free to take their kids Home

I did write to point out that many of us would still be on a lunch break and expected to work on for hours after that.

the other parents with the non-accepted siblings were fuming at the heads suggestion of “just find another parent friend to watch your little ones” erm… they’ll all be at the meeting… dur!!

Sounds more like they're expecting parents to take measures. "We told parents not to do so-and-so, it's not our fault". They're putting all the onus on other people..

I think it's too difficult. Back then when my husband was at uni, one of his tutors had severe nuts allergy. There was a request not to eat ANY nuts in the classroom, but nothing about traces of nuts. It's like the request on plane. They only ask you not to eat peanuts etc. Everything might contain traces of nuts, it's just impossible to do.

Hardly anything to eat is completely nut free or free from traces of nuts which is very difficult for those that suffer. How can a normal person provide a guaranteed nut free environment in their kitchen while massive companies who can't/won't . It's impossible, every food we eat has traces of it or a risk. I'm not sure how it's possible as I've been to a school recently who had massive signs up saying "no nuts and no traces of nuts". I'm not going to argue about how parents manage to accommodate their dc with nut allergies and I'm sure it's very hard but imagine a household with multiple children a husband who eat all sorts and have different dietary tastes/needs, you can't keep the kitchen completely nut free even if you try just because one dc's school says so and especially at short notice.

Fruit doesn't have nuts in it. Meat doesn't have nuts in it. Salad doesn't usually have nuts in it. I find it bemusing reading people saying everything can have traces of nuts. How? Do cattle eat nuts? Fruit trees, salad etc? Pasta?

It is very easy to avoid nut traces. In fact, it would be pretty hard to come across something with nuts or traces in it.

Most bread/carbs would come with a nut warning.
What if you are milk or lactose intolerant?
Vegan/vegetarian?
My DD would have only fruit and salad to eat all day by that reckoning Mintice
Add in children who are neuro diverse and literally can't eat certain foods and you have a recipe for very hungry children.
There are better ways to approach this than banning foods with traces or potentially traces.

Meat doesn't have nuts in it

The last time I glutened myself it was with bacon, I mean since when is bacon likely to contain wheat? Serves me right for buying some sort of fancy stuff from Waitrose, in my defence I was seduced by the yellow sticker. But it goes to show that you can never presume anything, allergens/gluten can be present in the most unexpected things, nevermind may contain warnings.

I'm taking a wild guess that you don't have a nut allergy...
Anything produced in a facility that also handles nuts or prepared in a kitchen where nuts are used in anything can theoretically contain traces of nuts. Mostly they don't of course, but they can and lots of manufacturers cover themselves by using the "may contain" labelling.It's fairly meaningless and doesn't really help allergic people which is one of the several reasons why this edict from the school is unhelpful and unreasonable.
As has been explained multiple times already on this thread, if the OP was to accurately follow the instructions given, she would not only have to stop buying the myriad of foodstuffs that are labelled "may contain" but also stop using nut products in her own home, or follow the kind of rules commercial kitchens do to minimise risks of cross contamination which would be difficult in a domestic kitchen. It is a lot to ask of people and it is almost certainly unnecessary anyway.

So, OP, what have you done?

Asked the school for recipes? referred them to the allergy and anaphylaxis websites posted above?

And that's where the lack of understanding surrounding 'May contain' shows.
Ingredients in processed foods go through many manufacturing steps and plants and transportation stages. Any of those that has handled nuts previously risks contamination of the current processed item.
Do you know if sacks of walnuts were loaded on top of sacks of flour on a truck to a processor?
If you have any nuts or nut products in your kitchen, anything prepare in there is a may contain.
That fruit you chopped up on that chopping board now might contain traces as the board may not have been adequately decontaminated from when it was previously used to cut a Nutella sandwich.
It is immensely difficult to guarantee items do not contain traces of something else (including mouse poo)

Have you read any of the thread? It's got quite a lot of information in it. Or did you just think you could wade in trumpeting a load of misinformation and people would think 'oh yes, I didn't think of meat'.

I have and I stand by everything I've said. You're and others are the ones spreading misinformation. It is very easy to avoid nuts and traces of it. Very easy, if you try.

Bollocks is it easy!

It's really difficult. I do it on a daily basis for every meal.

It's a nuisance but the new pupil could be at risk of death. What's worse?

I wouldn't exactly say it's easy either @MintIceCream1.

When first diagnosed you have to go through everything and re-evaluate. There are lots of nut-free products available, I agree, but it takes a while to get into the routine of knowing what's safe and what's not. And you do have to keep on reading labels, because companies sometimes change things.

Eating out is almost always more difficult, whether at a friend's house or in a restaurant. Everything has to be planned. Some restaurants are okay, but in others virtually nothing is suitable. Your child gives a simple cough while eating out and your blood runs cold in case it's the start of anaphylaxis.

Eating at home is fine once you're in a routine, I agree, but I'd much prefer to live as a family without allergies, I have to say. And I certainly wouldn't ask those who are lucky enough not to have allergies to live like this.

It's more than a nuisance @Murdoch1949.

Living with food allergies is a whole different way of living. It's very challenging to have to eliminate all traces of a particular food from your life.

Asking people not to bring nuts, nutella etc into school in packed lunches is fine, but trying to elimate nut traces as well requires lifestyle change on the part of the whole school community.

I don't think the school realises the implications of what's being asking tbh.

*asked, not asking

Exactly this. I think (hope) that it's just poor wording because if they really mean only guaranteed nut free food then I can't comply.

I can't remember who asked upthread, but I've emailed school asking them to clarify, and had a reply from the secretary saying she's looking into it and will get back to me but that she thinks the email they sent meant exactly what it said

It's disproportionate and unrealistic to think this is workable for anyone. I think just being sensible should cover it, obviously just don't take anything containing nuts into school.