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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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

315 replies

PartyGoose · 16/05/2022 15:06

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.

OP posts:
SickAndTiredAgain · 16/05/2022 17:09

As you are not the child in question it really isn’t relevant what you do.

Yes but I was replying to the poster who said that everyone would think differently if it was their child. I was pointing out all the posters who did have children with allergies and still think the policy to ban all "may contain" products is too far.

BluebellField · 16/05/2022 17:10

Surely chocolate like mars, bounty etc contain traces of nuts and are labelled as such? Surely they can't mean things like this as this would be virtually impossible to enforce in a secondary school.

I feel for this child. I'm sure there will be countess children who bring in peanut butter chocolate etc, either because they've forgotten they can't or because they just want to.

RitaTheBeater · 16/05/2022 17:12

Thing is, there are different levels of allergy. Some people can get an anaphylactic reaction if they eat nuts, others who are severely sensitive/allergic can go into anaphylaxis merely by walking past someone in the street who is eating nuts. Everyone knows there are different 'levels of allergies'

There are numerous cases of people having anaphylaxis on a plane because another person ate nuts in another part of the plane. There is much research to show that this is not the case and it is that reactions that people have had on planes are because of 'nut dust' that is on the seats and trays.

Do you think the child with the severe nut allergy is deliberately doing it to make your life harder? No, I don't think she does. Confused

Yes, it’s fair bit of effort to avoid food with may contain warnings, but it’s perfectly possible - how else do you think people with severe nut allergies live. I can tell you that my child eats foods labelled may contain. That's how she lives.

It is truly awful to say you can’t be bothered to make the effort to save a child’s life by looking at the food labels for lunch/ snacks. She can be bothered.

The affected child’s family have to do it for every single meal for the rest of the child’s life. Do they? I don't know anyone with anaphylaxis who does this.

I think it’s great the school are doing it - it might give people a little insight into what it is like for the child with the severe allergy. Madness. Let's put all the dc in wheelchairs because Josh is in a wheelchair.

Have some sympathy for the poor child who is affected. She does. She sounds sympathetic and thoughtful to me.

Save their life. 🤯

School will have more information than you do on their sensitivity to nuts. Nobody is saying they don't.

It’s no point people saying, “I know so-and-so and they are allergic but they have may contains” each child is different - if this one has extreme sensitivity that even a trace of nuts may kill them, then you just have to think of others and pit in the effort. A child's life can't be put in the the hands of other people like this. That's hugely irresponsible. The school will have to have only school dinners if this is the case. Which they haven't.

It’s not asking much compared to the stress that the affected child and their family face every day. I disagree. I think it's asking a huge amount. And I have anaphylactic dc. I don't expect other people to not eat foods that May contain nuts. He's not going to eat them as he knows better.

FirewomanSam · 16/05/2022 17:14

I have a nephew with a peanut allergy, plus several other allergies, and his parents are fastidious about not serving him anything which says it ‘may contain…’ any of those things, but even they themselves don’t have a blanket ban on those ‘may contain…’ foods at home. Let alone asking everyone at his school to stop eating them too!

A ban on nuts at the school is reasonable. Asking parents to be careful about cross-contamination (e.g. not using the peanut butter knife to make sandwiches that will be brought to school, or feeding a nutty cereal bar to a child on their way in to school) also seems reasonable.

But to ban ALL foods which ‘may contain traces’ is just going to be unworkable and it sounds like whoever came up with that idea hasn’t actually read the labels of all the foods they eat to see how much that actually affects!

cecilthehungryspider · 16/05/2022 17:15

savoycabbage · 16/05/2022 16:06

@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?

McVities biscuits don't tend to be "may contain" and nor is Hovis or Kingsmill bread. Walkers crisps. Kinder stuff is well labelled and they have things that are ok. Fridge raiders and peperami are ok. Penguin biscuits. Club biscuits. Tesco mini breadsticks. Mini Babybel. Crunchies. Twirls.

There is actually plenty out there (apart from Easter eggs) but you do have to do a lot of label reading. Are you on the Nut Free Food Guide on Facebook? People put finds on there all the time for new ideas. Like I said it is hard but not impossible. And I don't think it is reasonable for a school to ask people to avoid "may contain", just things that actually definitely do contain.

My DC has Wildlife choobs which are not "may contain" a sandwich, fruit and carrot and cucumber sticks.

Please do be careful with the "may contains", my DC has had anaphylactic reactions to them in the past which is why we avoid them altogether now.

Chouetted · 16/05/2022 17:16

The thing that confuses me is that OP hasn't mentioned any other precautions she's been asked to take, like not eating products that may contain nuts on school days, or keeping packed lunch supplies in a different cupboard from nut-containing products. Which would all be more sensible than this.

MarvellousMay · 16/05/2022 17:17

and breathes nut fumes
Don’t you realise how ignorant this sounds? Maybe check out the allergy UK site if you have genuine concerns.

The school are trying to minimise risk and are asking parents to do the same. Obviously there may be a few cases of human error but they are not being unreasonable to ask.

cecilthehungryspider · 16/05/2022 17:18

Midlifemusings · 16/05/2022 16:08

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.

Perhaps re-read my post?

"I don't think it is necessary to ban "may contain" foods"

FirewomanSam · 16/05/2022 17:20

ibblebibbledibble · 16/05/2022 16:56

It’s really not that hard at all. Our school has always been nut free since my children have been there. I presumed all schools were.

And does that mean the school doesn’t allow any foods with ‘May contain traces of nuts’ on the packaging at all? Or does it just mean not bringing in any products containing actual nuts? The latter is very common but the former is very unusual.

So many people replying about nutfree schools don’t seem to actually be acknowledging the first point.

BlueOverYellow · 16/05/2022 17:24

One of my children has a nut allergy.

A ban on food that may contain traces of nuts is overkill and unworkable.

YANBU

IDidntKnowItWasAParty · 16/05/2022 17:24

Virtually every item in the supermarket has a disclaimer 'may contain' or similar, just to cover themselves. If you ruled out all of those, there's very little left to bring in!
BTW if anyone needs a nut-free peanut butter alternative, we use Wow Butter made from soybeans for DC's school sandwiches.

Muffinsorcrumpets · 16/05/2022 17:27

savoycabbage · 16/05/2022 15:26

They are mad. My dd is anaphylactic and I have to give her food that says 'may contain' or she would starve to death. I wouldn't give her crunchy nut cornflakes but I would give her cornflakes.

It's almost impossible to buy any food at all where they can guarantee that there is no danger of cross contamination. I know kinnerton chocolate used to be. I don't know if that's still the case.

Hmm, I also have a child who's anaphylactic to nuts, @SavoyCabbage, and I certainly wouldn't feed them the 'may contain' foods. It might be okay 95% of the time, but it mightn't always be okay.
To set up a household as nut free isn't too hard, there are lots of options actually (and cornflakes are nut-free, at least Kellogg's are). Labelling is good these days. Eating out is where things get problematic.

OP, you don't need to set up your house to be nut-free of course. I think the school don't completely realise what they're asking. Take the precautions you've mentioned, ie no nuts or hidden nuts (in chocolate spreads etc). The school could ask children to wash hands on arrival too. The allergic child will need to take precautions themselves also.

I'd also keep up the awareness if you're ever catering for the nut-allergic child, eg birthday parties etc. That's when things can get forgotten sometimes, but the parents should be on top of this anyway.

Cliftontherocks · 16/05/2022 17:29

You can not be nut free at home - that’s like saying a child allergic to dogs means everyone in the class rehomes their dog.

I got a bollocking for sending my smallest in with a flapjack with raisins etc as it was containing nuts - I pointed out the packaging labelled it as 100% nut free and the ingredients had no nuts. But god forbid he also got his mini cheddars sent home as it wasn’t healthy enough but the raisins with a higher sugar content were fine

crosstalk · 16/05/2022 17:30

Email the school with a link to the anaphylaxis site (once you've read it) and ask them what they would recommend for a nutritious lunch avoiding traces of nuts.

I suspect they are covering themselves, as are food producers, from legal action re "traces of nuts". And ask them to be specific - peanuts are technically not nuts and sesame seeds are seeds but both trigger anaphylaxis. I'd also be asking if the child in question has airborne sensitivity which would be even more limiting.

I have total sympathy for the child and parents involved especially when all want the DC to have all round normal schooling. Nightmare for them all.

Cliftontherocks · 16/05/2022 17:32

Ps easy enough don’t send in any snacks with or made from nuts - that’s all you can do

Franca123 · 16/05/2022 17:35

I'm not sure banning helps anyway? I removed nuts completely from my diet on GP's advice and my allergy got much worse. I now purposefully eat nuts periodically and I'm more at a level of reaction I remember from child hood. An expert told me to make sure we eat nuts at home so my children would be exposed nice and young. I don't think the school thought this through at all.

Muffinsorcrumpets · 16/05/2022 17:35

Virtually every item in the supermarket has a disclaimer 'may contain' or similar, just to cover themselves. If you ruled out all of those, there's very little left to bring in!

As someone who has a nut-free household because of allergies/anaphylaxis, no, they really don't. We have loads to eat, lots of choice. You do have to look a bit harder to start with, but it's very doable. (Eating out is where the real problems lie.)
Scanning labels compulsively is not something most people need to do, however. The 'may contain nuts' ban is taking things too far imo.

carefullycourageous · 16/05/2022 17:37

I think YABU to email the school. Either follow it 100%, follow it as best you can, or don't follow it at all (well, don;t do this), but don't make an arse of yourself emailing over this. You will look really selfish. I email school a lot, but never over having to make an effort on behalf of someone else.

Jacketpotato84 · 16/05/2022 17:43

If this child’s allergy is that severe that even the tiniest trace in someone else’s food gets into their system then I’d be thinking about whether school is the best place for them to learn.
Can this child be home schooled for their safety? Or failing that at least have a room dedicated at eating times where only they can eat with a couple of class mates with nut free lunches join them?
Can the school provide the meals for the children to absolutely make sure that no products containing nuts nor traces of come into the school?
There is room for a lot of mistake here, what if for example a child has someone else looking after them and their carer is unaware of the allergy and sends in contaminated food?
Its all down to responsibility, and while we should be educating the children on how to look after themselves (age appropriate) when children are in school they are the responsibility of the school and as this child has a disability I’m pretty sure the school would need to make reasonable adjustments to facilitate the risks concerned. The parents can be mindful yet the school should be held accountable to make the adjustments not the other pupils parents.

Siameasy · 16/05/2022 17:44

Agree it’s too far and encourages complacency. DNiece has a peanut allergy. I’d never serve any peanut-containing food to my DD if her cousin was there but I would give my DD eg a penguin biscuit “may contain traces of nuts” and I would imagine that to be a sensible approach to the school

altmember · 16/05/2022 17:44

Why can't they just tell the child with the nut allergy to stay away from other kid's food? Surely a child with a severe allergy will be well aware (even at a young age) of the need to be careful what they put in their mouths?

If someone with a nut allergy goes for a meal in a restaurant are all of the rest of the diners that day only allowed to have nut free food too? Of course not, yet there's far more risk of cross contamination seeing as all the food has been prepared in the same kitchen.

caringcarer · 16/05/2022 17:46

We got an email saying no Satay in school a few weeks ago as can contain traces of nuts apparently.

3luckystars · 16/05/2022 17:46

That’s nuts.

I doubt you will be only parent emailing about it.

Chouetted · 16/05/2022 17:54

caringcarer · 16/05/2022 17:46

We got an email saying no Satay in school a few weeks ago as can contain traces of nuts apparently.

The main ingredient in satay sauce is peanuts!

Xenia · 16/05/2022 18:02

We are a nut crammed home. I suppose the school could move to 100% school meals to protect the new child.

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