Nursery packed lunches - allergens list feels overwhelming!

[Querious]

Hi all, NC’d for this one! Never thought I’d be this kind of person to question an allergy policy in schools as I have lots of friends and family both currently and in childhood with dietary requirements like coeliac/ severe nut allergies/ vegan etc which I’ve always tried my best to accommodate when hosting them at mine or going out places to eat. However, my DC’s nursery have created such an exhaustive list of banned food in packed lunches that I’m really struggling to put together something healthy ish that a 3 year old will eat! Not allowed:

• egg (incl mayo and as an ingredient)
• nuts (incl coconut)
• seeds
• fish
• Chocolate
• sweets

I try to cook/ bake most things we consume and keep mainly low UPF but I’m not a zealot about it. Because of this however, the teachers are routinely removing things from my child’s lunchbox for fear of causing a reaction. In the short return after Christmas this has included greek yoghurt with strawberries blended into it (questioned the seeds so replaced with a packaged yoghurt), a sandwich made with wholemeal bread (seeds), a sandwich made from white focaccia (had some black flecks in - pepper, but they couldn’t be sure), hummus (homemade with no nuts but they couldn’t be sure!!), beetroot brownies (too much chocolate), sausage rolls (queried egg glaze, it was actually milk) and a piece of cake (as cakes are made with egg).

Genuinely tearing my hair out to figure out what I can put in a lunchbox that ticks all the nursery’s boxes plus my own lower UPF plus my DC’s picky habits - plus isn’t the same thing every day! For ex DC won’t reliably eat white bread, probably because we don’t buy it, prefers the hardest crustiest uncut bread you can buy 😂 I can’t afford school lunches and the menus aren’t great from a UPF perspective. Help! AIBU to think this is really difficult?

Most pasta does not have egg in it.

That’s true.
But these practices can only ever lower risk, not eliminate it completely.
Most pasta that kids eat in the UK won’t have egg.
The vast majority of cake does.
So there’s a difference in how they’re treated.

Cold custard pots do not contain egg.

Hellmans do a very good vegan mayo.

There are plenty of egg free cake recipes that don’t contain eggs. Google crazy cake or vinegar cake, much cheaper than using flax or chia seeds.

Presumably they cater? Just opt for their own food

(Edit as I meant to tag @RessicaJabbit)

It's ridiculous because it's arbitrary and not based on any sensible proportionality to risk. Dairy allergy is much more common than allergies to seeds and fish but they obviously (sensibly) aren't banning that because dairy is such an important component of a healthy diet for a child who doesn't have an allergy or other reason to avoid it. The list is ridiculous because it is a random scattering of potential allergens without rational justification that puts a huge load on OP and other parents to avoid specific foods where the risk is absolutely tiny, while not excluding risks that are much greater.

It's fair enough for nurseries to have a nut ban because the overall incidence of the allergy in the population and the severity with which it can strike make this a proportionate measure to manage the risk. However any kind of strategies like this are only ever about managing and reducing risk, not eliminating it, and such measures should always be assessed considering whether the burden of work being created by the measure is in keeping with the magnitude of the risk (is the consequence "will get a nasty rash" or is it "will stop breathing and die") and the extent to which real world (ie never perfect) application of the measure will reduce the risk. This nursery's policy has been formulated by someone who does not have an appropriate level of education to understand this.

@CactusSwoonedEnding

It’s very possible the list changes depending on the allergies of children attending the nursery at any given time.

Also, I would think that AllergyUK has an appropriate level of education to understand the risks and the nursery is following their guidance for early years settlings (as quoted upthread).

Sounds like the nursery need to make it compulsory to have their food and ban lunch boxes basically. But that’s not really fair to OP financially. I’d be looking for a new nursery if that was feasible. It’s not the list, it’s the fact that it doesn’t seem possible to make homemade food that doesn’t include items on the list and doesn’t look like it might possibly include items on the list. Also the seeds thing would drive me mad because it’s nonsense. Which seeds? Are seed oils also an issue? Is it just sesame really but they want to avoid all loose seeds because they scatter easily?

How about my child that has 20 food allergies and nuts are one of the few things in that list that she can eat!

No they absolutely wouldn’t be fine. Not a unicorn child a ND child/ children who just can’t tolerate cheese and another with dairy intolerance .Underweight too. A child that can only eat safe foods.

So ND kids out, any child with any allergy in. Not ok. Pushing UPFs and restricted diets for such formative aged children isn’t ok either. Also full time working parents don’t have the time to faff around preparing elaborate meals their children will
in all likelihood not eat.

I’d be looking for a new nursery as I suspect
many other parents would.

You can use this seed free ingredient in vegan cake.
https://www.naturalgrocery.co.uk/product/orgran-no-egg-natural-egg-replacer-200g/
Someone gave it to me to try, so I use it when my egg allergic nephew comes to stay. It is a bit UPF like, but I expect that using this in home made cake is lower UPF than supermarket bought cake.

I wouldn’t bother with this. Crazy cake or vinegar cake is much easier and cheaper without having to try and find specialist ingredients.

God I wouldnt use crap like this, theres tons of cakes that you dont put egg in

Try having a child with allergies. For every meal.
this list doesn’t seem that constrictive at all to me. Regardless of whether eliminating foods is the best approach it’s the one they have chosen for now. It’s more clear communication between you and the nursery that is lacking. Maybe it would be helpful to come up with a meal plan for several days. Once you have what you are doing in mind/ the ingredients to do so it wouldn’t be so tricky. But also do give your feedback it can take a while for settings to figure out the safest most sustainable approach to allergy.

Another that as an allergy parent has a strong dislike for banned foods. More children die every year from dairy allergies than nut allergies. There should be a robust plan in place for each child with allergies it's impossible to exclude all possible allergens from a building and I think exclusions should be treated on a case by case basis and only when there is a clinic needs for that level of exclusion. My daughter has 20 food allergies and is allergic to more vegetables than she is from the "top 14" allergen list blanket bans on various allergens makes her restricted diet more challenging.

Her nursery went with a containment approach to managing her allergies. She was always sat next to a key worker and children that were known to behave at the table. There was an incident where she came home saying a child put cheese in all of the cups of water. I had a word with the staff and they said yes that did happen but not on the table my daughter was sat at. This child is known to play with food so they don't sit my daughter near her.She had food made for her, all of the staff knew the foods she was allowed and not allowed. She also had toddler diarrhea and severe silent reflux so there were foods we had to avoid for those too although less of a problem with other children having these. We actively avoided any nursery that allowed food in from home

One thing I would say about the exclusion list is you are only having to exclude for a handful of meals. Please have compassion for those of us that are doing it every meal of every day

If anyone is after egg free cakes that aren't full of upf look for a recipe that uses the "buttermilk" approach.

The recipe will have milk or milk substitute mixed with lemon juice or vinegar and bicarb or baking soda which gives you the "rise" part of the egg and oil instead of butter gives the liquid component of the egg.

There’s no need to frame it like this, pitting one group (ND children) against another (allergic children)!

For a start neurodiverse children are more likely than the general population to have allergic conditions too, including asthma. eczema and food allergies.
Ask me how I know 😅

Not sure why everyone is so focused on cheese. OP didn’t say she was vegetarian. Chicken would work?

It looks like OP is vegetarian from one of her updates, but it’s part of a longer post so you may have missed it:
^^

• I do struggle with non UPF vegetarian protein options that kiddo will eat, cheese string is about as good as I’ve got ha! There’s been some good suggestions on here so will note, thanks

At holiday camps I used to write the ingredients down as my son liked a mixed seeded muffin and they kept taking it away due to nuts... there were zero nuts... hence started this

You could get some sticky labels and print out the ingredients

Its a pain and yanbu - i cant belive they police this.

I’m not so sure, because she also mentioned sausage rolls as a food that she’d sent in to nursery.

I took the above quote as her looking at a mix of meat and meat-free options for lunches.
Perhaps she can clarify.

The list isn't too long but the way they are policing it is an issue for sure, I would speak to them for clarification.

But I agree with the pp who said bans aren't the way to go, just give false confidence. At nurseries and schools where I am there's no banning of allergens (though there's no bringing in own food to nursery anyway as all meals and snacks are provided for no extra charge, but the meals and snacks provided don't avoid allergens except for those children with specific allergies). In schools children can take in snacks on longer days and the only restrictions are healthy eating ones not allergen ones.

Using ND children as the get out clause here is ridiculous.

Our son has a very short list of foods that he will tolerate, and I can accept that for some parents of ND kids that will include eggs.

But my child having an aversion to food is not the same as someone else’s having their life put at risk by an allergy. Not even close.

He might refuse the majority of food, but none of it is going to risk his health.

An allergy isn’t the same as an aversion, it’s not the same as a preference, or a choice, or the same as wanting to be vegetarian. All of the rest are wants, not needs.

I can’t believe how many parents are happy to put children at risk because they want their kids to have access to seeds.

I'd never send my child anywhere where just having bread & butter for lunch in order to prevent other kids having an allergic reaction was a realistic option.

I don’t think anyone is suggesting that bread and butter be the only options for lunch.

So what do you suggest those families do, let their kids go hungry?

Okay so they can only eat safe foods - and this child who ONLY safe foods on the entire planet is nuts, eggs and seeds -- fine we'll allow them to eat them at this nursery.

But I can 100% guarantee this child doesn't exist and that they are eating more than just nuts, eggs and seeds. and they can eat other safe foods for that ONE MEAL.