Pesto in lunch box - nut free school

[Franxie]

I’ve got a friend who has twins my kids class, they are reception age. She doesn’t let her kids have school lunches as she doesn’t think they are healthy.

Today I asked her daughters what they had for lunch and they told me a croissant, mum clarified it was a croissant with pesto spread inside, chicken, mozzarella and tomato slices.

The school is nut free so I said oh doesn’t pesto have nuts in it, she said it was fine, I said it’s really not allergies can be deadly and she insisted it was fine, school never pays attention, it’s healthy and if school ever do ask she will say it’s nut free pesto.

WIBU to report this to the school?

My DS has terrible reaction to pesto as he has a dairy allergy and cheese is the worst culprit. he's been excellent ever since reception at self monitoring. I would rather he and other allergy kids sat on a NF/DF/etc table as i appreciate allergens will creep in

My cousin had anaphalaxis egg allergy and she always sat apart too, schools cant be egg free so she had to learn to mitigate risk from a young age.

My SIL also gets unable to breathe if she's near a kiwi- luckily these weren't as common in the 80s!

Me neither.

So I think everyone should listen to Richard Osman's brilliant lecture on Nuts on the unbelievable truth. Most "nuts" are not nuts. But they might still be allergens. So if nuts are banned because of allergies and if you don't know anything more specific than that, it is best to avoid anything known as a nut, be it a fruit or a seed or a drupe or a legume or indeed a nut!

https://www.reddit.com/user/pfobwpfo/comments/18ohqi2/nuts/

It would never have occurred to me that pesto had nuts in it, but then I can’t stand the stuff so never go near it. If one of my children had tried it elsewhere and asked for it in their packed lunch I’d have given it to them without a second thought.

When I used to supervise lunchtimes in a school with a nut ban I could see that it was adhered to most of the time but there was always the odd occasion when a Dad or someone who didn’t usually make the lunch would include a peanut butter sandwich, or one of those little tubs of apple and peanut butter from M&S.

This is why nut bans are pointless. Even with the best will in the world, bans do not work. A child who has a severe allergy needs to be protected by good hygiene and by educating the people around them.

My niece has a severe nut allergy and went into anaphylaxis from pesto - someone had mistakenly added it to a recipe.

Nuts in schools issues aside please don’t give anyone with a nut allergy pesto!

I’m exactly the same, pistachios, cashews and pine nuts are my worst allergens (recently found out the hard way that psyllium husks also trigger it). I think it’s quite a common co-allergen.

Most commercial pestos have cashews in them as they’re cheaper. Absolutely not fine!

Aren’t all nuts also seeds?

A pine nut allergy is quite rare afaik. But some people are allergic to pine nuts (whether that’s due to a nut allergy which includes pine nuts or pine nuts specifically).

and as PP said: storebought pesto usually contains cashews.
it is however super easy to make nut free pesto at home….

I agree. I have a mild tree nut allergy and have had a small amount of pesto on a few occasions (normally when I didn’t realise it was on bruschetta) and my throat starts itching straight away.

Everyone keeps repeating the ‘pine nuts are seeds’ bollocks and the ‘pesto has cashew nuts in it’
Yes, we know. This has been said a dozen times already.
But can’t someone answer my question above please?

Peanuts are legumes anyway. If somebody specifically told me to avoid tree nuts I would pack peanuts whilst assuming that I was doing everything „correctly“…

@Throwaway75 I'm sorry to read this. I assume you carry an epipen which hopefully gives you confidence & a degree of comfort day to day.

I have an allergy to dogs & one lick brings the area licked out in welt like hives. If my husband pats a dog then holds my hand my eyes become itchy red & swollen. I feel this is nothing compared to the worry of a nut allergy. Everyone should adhere to rules in schools where there is someone dealing with this.

My nephew has a nut allergy and pine nuts are one of the nuts that he has to avoid, so I always assumed everyone with a nut allergy was also allergic to them.

My son loves pesto and I always either make my own or buy the nut free one for school. There are so many nut free pestos, I think you should say something again to her.

Summary for those of you who are just catching up with the thread:

"My child has a life-threatening condition that requires an occasional minor adjustment on your part"
"FUCK YOU I WILL HAVE MY PESTO"

also:

"You don't know your own allergies. Let me mainsplain them to you... blah blah..treenuts... drupes... seeds... and therefore you will be okay if you just unclench... blah blah... why do those unfortunate allergic wretches even leave the house... how inconvenient for the rest of us... blah blah..."

@WhereIsMyJumper 1. The big difference is education (and in practice this often means schools) are compulsory. Farms aren't. 2) of the kids that I know ow who are very allergic, they do go to things like cinema but try to sit away from other people. They often don't do playdates at other people's houses and stay away from other people eating food, go to restaurants that don't usually serve their airborne allergens e.g. go to pizza places if they are allergic to peanuts etc.

Why should the child have to give up her delicious lunch because someone might DIE?!

This is actually not true, most store bought pestos are made with cashew nuts. I know this as my husband has an allergy and we can’t have them in the home, even though he is fine with seeds/pine nuts

Fucking dangerous. I wish people like this could be reported to the police, not just the school. Why do they think their convenience trumps someone’s life. Most shop bought pestos in the jar are made from cashew nuts, not pine nuts. They are deadly for someone with a tree nut allergy.

Only the fresh ones in the refrigeration all are made from pine nuts – but even so, some people also have a pine nut allergy.

Your friend is a selfish dick. Report her.

problem is that peanuts aren't nuts either, they are legumes!

My son was allergic to cashews and he could suffer uncomfortable reaction (hives etc) if simply touching a keyboard that I had touched earlier in the day while eating cashews. We did not have nuts in the house normally and stopped even having them as snacks after that. It's very distressing to watch let alone be the affected child. If he ingested them he would need adrenalin promptly, trip to hospital and hours of observation before safe to go home. Without this he would run risk of his throat closing up and being unable to breath as his body goes into shock. You are presumably aware of the death of physically fit adults with nut allergies. It's especially dangerous if you don't realise nuts are present .... Because they are not supposed to be (as 'nut free school').

Note that the Anaphalaxis campaign does appear to favour but free in infant school as the children face more risk of cross contamination. See this explanation by the anaphylaxis campaign. https://www.anaphylaxis.org.uk/full-statement-regarding-ide-primary-schools-nut-free-environment-policy/

I’m allergic to all nuts, pine nuts and coconut with pine nuts and coconut being my worst reactions. I can’t even let my kids eat pesto and come near me as it’s such a bad reaction.

Also, we have learned several times over that pesto has cashew nuts in and that pine nuts are seeds 😂

Really? You don’t say! This is BRAND NEW information 🤦‍♀️

So how do we protect children with dairy, egg, banana etc etc allergies?

One of the biggest danger points is when young people start managing the risk themselves as they get older. They havent had the practise and are used to a nut free world so dont take it seriously. All the official advice and research is against nut bans.

Peanuts are a legume.

That said, I would never have allowed a lunch box with potential fatal allergen.