AIBU to report nut-containing muffins being brought into a nut-free school?

[AlmondFlourmuffins]

I’m really conflicted whether to keep quiet about something or not . If I say something it will be completely obvious it was me that reported.

Dd best friend always takes in a homemade muffin to school as has packed lunch. Dd had a play date and when I picked her up said that she had some and can we make them for her lunches after the half term break so I asked for the recipe.
One was a ‘Bakewell muffin’ made with almond flour and glace cherries the other was a peanut butter chocolate and banana marbled muffin. The thing is it’s a nut free school and when I said ‘oh I’m surprised you’ve got away with this’ after she shared the recipe she just laughed. Now I’m feeling like it’s wrong?

I know in the class there are no nut allergies but I have no idea obviously about the rest of the year/school. But if I say something is it going to cause a massive problem ? This is dd best friend and I just don’t know what to do ?

I mean, they have to have spare EpiPens from September

You are missing the point. None of us are suggesting the schools go dairy (etc) free. We are just pointing out the irrationality of being angry at parents who send nuts to school when all foods can be deadly allergens

It would cost about £100 to buy a couple of EpiPens and keep them in a suitable location

However, I do like the Kitt boxes as they are very visible. it's perhaps a good thing for PTAs to fund

For the sake of £100 a year (or however frequently they need up-dating) it’s nothing. I just read on Benedict’s website, that 30% reactions are in children who don’t realise they even had an allergy. I’m so glad this madness has been called out. I know we can’t rely on autoinjectors, but it’s a good measure to have in place. Hopefully people will take ingredients listing more seriously too. I always feel like the fussy mum asking.

I hope the law is extended to youth groups, sports clubs etc in the future.

They are not currently allowed to buy them as they are restricted medicines.

Exactly that. As someone who unexpectedly developed anaphylaxis as an adult, I would love to see EpiPens dotted about everywhere a bit like defibrillators are.

Our DC has an anaphylactic wheat/barley/rye allergy, and there is obviously not going to be a ban on all wheat/barley/rye products in the school from September, when they start. We’re focusing instead on teaching DC never to accept food that’s not theirs, and on getting adults to check for allergens in ingredients lists, on being comfortable asking and double-checking, and on hygiene, so washing hands before eating to avoid touch contamination.

Basically, focusing on what’s in our control. It’s all we can do.

Agreed. I have had various issues with youth activities/clubs. Scouts were the worst. My son had to leave because the leaders view to me asking for safe processes for his allergies was that my son needed to just "be more resilient". Fuckwit

Make sure school has a system in place for whenever they are using food
I taught my children's school to always send a list of the full ingredients and then get written consent (or electronic check box consent). That protects the school as well as the children

✅✅ We’ve already had the conversations around contact reactions and play dough, and they are quite on it in terms of gluten-containing cereals because there are quite a few staff and children there who are coeliac (which I’d say takes more care and special prep than DC’s allergy because as far as we know there’s no issue with gluten as such, just the wheat/barley/rye proteins themselves, so a wipe clean does work - it’s just that the allergy’s immediate consequences are more life-threatening than immediate responses to glutening if you get me). And I’ve got a meeting with the catering staff after half term.

DC is at nursery and has been fine but I am worried about the lower staff ratios and just the overall wheatiness of stuff all around them.

I have a child with a nut allergy. I'm also a teacher and every year I will have a child come up to me and say Miss, I think this has nuts in it and it does. The kids often know better than their parents. Talk to the teacher in a non official way. You don't even need to mention the parent, just say your child said their friend brings nut muffins into school and maybe a reminder about safe lunch boxes and healthy food could be sent out to all the parents.

I thought the movement was away from enforcing nut-free policies being strictly enforced because they don't help the child have and work on vigilance skills, that they may need all their life.

Even more true if the allergen is milk.

It is something like £300 to buy the starterkit. My BIL is a scout leader was talking about it last week.
One of the issues is actually getting medications that have long shelf life. My DS needs epipens but also diazipam for febrile convulsions which is only needed very very occasionally if ever. The first lot we were given only had one month left on it, which was a complete waste. We have also had epipens with only a couple of months on them

You're right to be nervous in my experience. Nursery managed it much better than schools for my two

I forgot about the play doh issue! My son was wheat allergic when he was younger and it's hugely tricky

If the pharmacy offer you old stock then you can (and should!) refuse to accept them. EpiPens should really have ~1 year on them.

Yes. Allergy UK says 20% of anaphylactic reactions in schools are in children who were not known to have a food allergy previously.

I know allergy UK don’t recommend nut-free schools (except in pre-schools/child-care facilities where it is recommended various allergens are excluded depending on the risk to the attending children) and I know why.

However, I can’t help thinking if dairy had been banned in schools too perhaps some of the recent high-profile deaths wouldn’t have occurred. One happened because a student threw cheese at another, in another case drinks (cows and oat milk) got mixed up. Such tragedies, it is heartbreaking.

Sesame seeds aren’t nuts though?
Obviously people are allergic to them too, but if I were asked specifically not to bring nuts somewhere because of allergies I would never think to exclude sesame as that’s a different allergen.

But its just as dangerous which is why the nut bans are wrong and the experts disagree with them

I didn't go to a nut-free school.

I had a packed lunch and my mum taught me to not trade foods with anyone.

When children are really young, it's more of a worry if there are poor ratios. But when they're older, they have to learn how to manage their allergies. Do you think their workplaces will tell their colleagues they can't bring in allergens?

What about public transport? Do you think there won't be people on the tube eating bags of nuts and smearing their nutty hands on the poles? (The selfishness of this staggered me - people can still surprise me!)

The fact that the other mum doesn't give a shit about killing other people's kids is precisely why children with allergies need to learn to take care of themselves in an age appropriate way, increasing their knowledge as they get older.

For example, a small child needs to know not to eat anything that doesn't come out of their very distinctive personalised lunch box.

As soon as the child develops any sense of maturity (hard to predict the age), they need to learn how to self-administer an epipen.

A teen, on the cusp of maybe getting a job, needs to know what their rights are under the Equality Act.

You just can't rely on other people caring if you live or die.

AlmondFlourmuffins Retired ambulance here. Please take this further

Yes, I do understand that point in regard to schools.

Just pointing out that sesame isn’t in the nut category in case people were confused about that.

PP was concerned about someone bringing in sesame covered buns in a nut-free situation (as well as things like nutella and almond milk), while don’t think she was critical of people using butter in their sandwiches or whatever.

So I think she was confusing sesame with nuts?

We had advice from the NHS that you can’t say the school is nut free as school can’t guarantee that visitors haven’t eaten nuts before coming into school and then are touching door handles and furniture etc. You can’t guarantee that any visitors coming into the school have not eaten nuts or anything containing nuts before they arrive, this includes delivery drivers handling deliveries with their hands after eating nuts. It’s too dangerous to say we are a nut free School, you can discourage parents from baking things with nuts in the ingredients. You can encourage children not to bring nut items into School, but we were advised that you cannot claim to be a nut free School. It’s important to know who the children are with nut allergies and that the majority of staff know how to administer EpiPens in emergencies.

I have some sympathy with schools. Primary school is really tricky these days. Ours tried to be allergy friendly, but in the end there were so many ingredients not allowed, they coped by putting all the allergy kids on the same table and just monitered what they ate, rather than monitering what everyone else was eating.

There were kids with nut allergies and dairy allergies, pretty standard, but then there were others with apples, peas, cats and dogs (they complained if kids had dander on them), allergies to various washing powders, can't dress up or share clothes, can parents please not use this washing powder. It really got out of hand.

Yes, you need to quietly mention it to the school. My DH once sent my kid in with Nutella sandwiches. I've also had to explain to students of all ages that Nutella has nuts in. She probably hasn't registered mentally that peanut butter is still nuts and the same for almond flour.

The more pedantic parent would argue that peanuts aren't nuts as they're legumes but most schools with this policy have it due to a student or Educator with peanut anaphylaxis.