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.

I have a very mild nut allergy so can be around them but shouldn't consume them myself.
Why don't you open your cupboards @SliceOfCakeCupOfTea and give us some examples of the foods the OP can send in. Ones that do not say 'may contain traces of nuts'.

Also my child has multiple allergies. Any can be as serious as each other. And yet it’s only nuts that schools seem to want to ban!?

I can only imagine that the people who think this is reasonable and proportionate are fortunate not to have to study ingredients on a regular basis. "May contain nuts" covers a huge quantity of food, many things that you wouldn't imagine coming near a nut at all.

I've just looked at some oatcakes - they say made in a factory that is nut free but cannot guarantee nut free. Ok or not?

This is ridiculous. We're vegan so nuts make up a large part of our diet. Children with allergies should just eat separately and everyone should be encouraged to practise good hygiene, regular hand washing and no food sharing. Don't penalise everyone for one person!

It's a difficult balance. My DS has a child in his year with a very severe allergy to nuts - apparently he's nearly died twice (not at school) so quite understandably both parents and school ultra vigilant. It is annoying though I agree but the devastation potentially caused by the alternative is unthinkable.

I always used to be a bit cynical about nut allergies until I was at university and saw someone at a party swell up and suddenly become almost unable to breathe because someone had opened a packet of peanuts in the same room. It was enough to scare me into treating these requests seriously even though it's frustrating.

It's an independent specialist school actually (not paid for by me because my child is disabled and has funding for her place, before you accuse me of stealth boasting) so they are not "overstaffed and underworked" in the way you might expect, and it's not a "reminder" because up until yesterday afternoon nuts were allowed in school!

But they aren't saying 'don't eat a bag of peanuts'. They are saying 'don't eat food that is labelled may contain nuts'. Which is a completely different thing and it's almost impossible to do.

Not having nuts is fair enough. Not having anything that "may contain traces of nuts" is ridiculous. That means you can only have certified nut free food, which is more.expensive, just in case the production line is contaminated.

If the problem is a child coming into contact with residue, for a family who eat a lot of nut product such as the OP, this demands that they to change their eating habits to accommodate another students needs.

If the OP cooks no-nut food for her child's lunch she now has to isolate this food from the rest of the "regular" food she cooks.

I don't think that the school has put much thought into how they have conveyed how important the change is, nor how this may impact families like the OP's in the short term. There are a lot of people who use subsitute foods or "healthfood" which contain nut extracts.

If the school have accepted a child with a life threatening condition they really need to start with educating the children in the importance of being aware if nuts are being brough into the school.

Well exactly. And it rules out home made food from any kitchen that isn't 100% nut free.

And that is the bit I think is unworkable.

I won't send nutella sandwiches. I won't send nakd bars. I won't send peanuts. I will check all labels really carefully and take it seriously.

But I can't make my kitchen a nut free zone, which means every food I send is potentially going to have traces of nuts no matter how careful I am!

I love all the comments saying it is "impossible" what do you think people with nut allergies eat?! My DC doesn't eat anything that says "may contain" they used to but after having several reactions we stopped it and there haven't been any reactions since (touch wood) for several years now. It is hard but it is not impossible.

All that said I prefer the Anaphylaxis Campaign approach of being "allergy aware" rather than banning lots of foods. Banning foods can create a false sense of security with the child believing that all food in school is safe but there will always be times that people do bring things in that they can't have. It is better to teach the child from a very young age how to check and be safe themselves. I don't think it is unreasonable to ask that children don't bring in foods that contain nuts, we know children aren't the best at washing hands, but I don't think it is necessary to ban "may contain" foods as well. I suspect this has been done at the request of an (understandably) anxious parent and not properly thought through.

OP perhaps you could direct the school to the Anaphylaxis Campaign website for resources on how to manage it in school?

My DC goes to an SEN school and takes a selection of snacks every day (as we never know what he will choose to eat). He has a school lunch, but may or may not touch it.

I was informed a while ago (similarly overnight) that a classmate had a nut allergy. I removed everything that contained nuts, but included items that may contain traces/made in a factory with nuts (which was pretty much everything else). They all got sent home.

Nothing remotely healthy/fibre filled etc can go in now. I’m left with mini packs of Maryland cookies, midget gems, party rings, animal biscits, pom bears or similar, pepperami. No point making stuff as most food he will eat isn’t suitable for sending in as snacks. It also needs to last, so he has a stash at school to choose from.

I don’t give him nut butter or anything nutty with breakfast either.

Yes that is going overboard and not workable for families. Of course the family with the allergy will go over and above but it is their child, it shouldn’t be expected for other people to have to check all ingredients for no nut traces, buy alternatives and make their own kitchens nut free. I wouldn’t send in actual nuts if asked not to, but I certainly wouldn’t be checking all ingredients and labels if everything I buy for lunches, and being vigilant of cross-contamination whilst making the lunches. I don’t have time for that.

I really struggle with the nut restrictions.

DC is very underweight (<2nd%). Our school has no kitchen so its packed lunches. DC is quite picky especially about protein, and nuts are one of the best things she will eat. I find it really hard getting enough calories into a lunch when I can't send nuts/peanut butter. We also can't send hummous either.

While I'm sympathetic to children with allergies, there were 3 nut allergy sufferers in my year as a child at school, no bans on peanuts at all then (I had peanut butter sandwiches quite a lot) and I only remember one incident and it was when the child's own lunch had been contaminated, not by food someone else brought.

I struggle with why I have to limit my very underweight child's diet, there must be other ways to manage it.

I totally agree with the anaphylaxis council on this. People have severe allergies to all sorts of things and we cannot demand the whole world stops eating nuts eggs milk bananas etc etc etc so that a person with a severe allergy can live a risk free life. Much more important that a child with an allergy is taught from a young age never to share food, ask people to wash hands after eating food etc. Unfortunate though a severe allergy is, it is ultimately for the person with the allergy and their family to deal with not everyone else.

"May contain traces of nuts" is just a CYA packaging strategy by companies. It doens't mean there are any nuts in it or that it even came in close contact iwth nuts. They put that on many things now - even if the company has nuts somewhee int he factory even if no where near that asesembly line, they might say may contain traces of nuts. It isn't reasonable to not bring in "may contain traces of nuts". Completely different from a product that has a small amount of nuts in it.

Nut free has been shown to not decrease incidents of allergic reactions and in some cases it increases it. There is no proven benefit to anyone to being nut free.

@cecilthehungryspider my dd does have a nut allergy. She's anaphylactic. I still think it's almost impossible to send a child to school every day with a packed lunch with no foods labelled 'may contain traces of nuts'.

What are these foods? What bread? What biscuit?

I think some compassion could be a consideration here. My son has a sesame seed and chickpea allergy, he does food tech at school and it's an absolute nightmare to get the teachers to understand just how dangerous his allergy is. Frequently he's told to make food which contain sesame or chickpeas, he has even been told off for not washing up someone else's pots who had used chickpeas. Like someone else said thank your lucky stars that your child doesn’t have a life-threatening allergy.

So what would you do if your school said no dairy, no eggs, no wheat, no tree nuts, no peanuts, no soy. Would you stop shopping for any products that had those ingredients and no longer bring any of them into your home just to be sure no one ever took it to school? Managing your own home for your own child is very different than being expected to take into account an entire school full of children and all their particular needs when feeding your family.

Could he wash the dishes if the ingredients had said 'may contain traces of chickpeas'? That's what we are talking about here. They

I suspect it's far more important to make sure that children (especially those in that class) clean their teeth and wash their hands after their breakfast if that contains any nuts.

Banning all "may contain traces of..." products is not going to work - that's on so many things just to cover the manufactuers' backs.

What have I said or done that is not compassionate?

Your son's school sounds appalling, but I'm not suggesting I send peanut butter sarnies or almond milk smoothies, am I? It's hardly comparable.

Unsure how much clearer I need to be here but once again I will avoid sending any food that has nuts in, I will check labels, and I will try and avoid cross contamination in my nut-using kitchen

I'm just not sure if that's good enough given the request from school to avoid anything that may contain traces of nuts!!

Yanbu, first I adhered to the rules of no nuts but then noticed other kidd bringing in items that did have trace of them. It makes it incredibly difficult to be so strict, my ds is a very picky eater (sensory issues) so restricting his diet even further caused many issues for us. I just stick to no nuts but include items that contain trace.

My children have attended 5 schools between them and they have all been nut free. It seems to be fairly standard practice where I live. I'm happy to stick to it even though one of my children has ARFID and peanut butter is one of the only sources of protein he will eat. I know that a potentially fatal reaction is way more serious than diet restrictions. Also with children with SN it can be more difficult to enforce rules to stop cross contamination.

However, none have them have gone as far as to ban food which "may contain traces of nuts". I think this is unworkable and hasn't really been thought through properly, so you are not unreasonable to email.