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Original poster

Unable to serve home made cake at nursery - is this right?

37 replies

Glitterknickaz · 21/10/2008 20:57

A friend of mine sent a beautifully made home made birthday cake into nursery with her four year old to celebrate his birthday.
On arrival she was told that they could not serve home made cakes to the children at nursery. My friend then had to purchase a cake from a nearby shop for nursery to use.
Does anyone know of any specific legislation that states that home made produce cannot be given to the children in nurseries?
In particular the South West region of England.

We've been unable to find anything specific saying that home made produce should not be given to children at nurseries, does anyone know whether there actually is legislation for this or is it just an urban myth which has become adopted as the norm?

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RubyShivers · 21/10/2008 20:59

we are not allowed to take any food from home or shops into the nursery as there are 2 children with very severe food allergies

zippitippitoes · 21/10/2008 20:59

well i imagine it is general uninspected kitchens

2point4kids · 21/10/2008 20:59

I'm pretty sure its in case of allergies.
Home made cakes dont come with an ingredients list for the staff to check - its a safety thing!

clayrethechildslayre · 21/10/2008 21:00

its common in nurseries in dundee only shop bought cakes with a list of ingredients on it, its to do with allergies here

cmotdibbler · 21/10/2008 21:00

Certainly both of DS's nurseries have said purchased cakes only, mostly I thought because of food hygiene and labelling

Aitch · 21/10/2008 21:02

yup, purchased cakes only here. but if you make fairy cakes they give them to the kids to take home, once it's been okayed by the parents.

zippitippitoes · 21/10/2008 21:04

i think it prevents the situation of minger mum and cake

most bought cakes cant make any guarantees re eg nuts

MadBadandWieldingAnAxe · 21/10/2008 21:04

One of my child's nurseries did this too. As 2.4kids says, it's about having a list of ingredients to check for allergens. There's no specific law, as far as I know, it's the nursery's interpretation of risk assessment and health and safety.

Original poster
Glitterknickaz · 21/10/2008 21:08

Personally I'm liking the 'minger mum' reasoning....

OP posts:
zippitippitoes · 21/10/2008 21:12

well that is the point of risk assessment

next mum doesnt source ingredients just uses a whole bottle of black colour to dye icing and a tonne of dried orange banned stuff to get a football sized properly

so much easier to say bought from shop to ease things

CountTo10 · 21/10/2008 21:17

No legis cause we took fairy cakes into ds1's pre-school and I've taken in homemade cakes into his nursery so its down to the individual place and I would assume its to do with allergies just so that there is no risk - better safe than sorry with stuff like that. I've always asked first with things like that so I'd advise that in the future.

Sunflower100 · 22/10/2008 08:59

Glitterknickas I don't understand why there has to be legislation. I am the mum of a child with allergies - and the prospect of them serving up home made cake, which could contain nuts, peanuts, egg etc at nursery if fairly terrifying.
Its not about legislation - its about looking after ALL the children in the nursery- surely a good lesson for all the children

MatBackFeck · 22/10/2008 09:04

If you send in birthday cakes at ours they don't give them to them during the day but hand them out at the end when the parents are there so they can decide. I think it is a general policy because they have a few children with nut allergies.

bobbysmum07 · 22/10/2008 23:04

It's nothing to do with allergies. All businesses that serve food, including nurseries, have to be inspected by Environmental Health. A nursery's license to serve food is only granted if the food handling procedures (and the general cleanliness of the kitchen, etc) meet the required standards. A good nursery will never serve a homemade cake because the kitchen it was prepared in will not have been inspected by Environmental Health and could be a filthy rathole. It's common sense surely.

Foxy800 · 02/11/2008 14:03

Hi, I wrk in a nursery and we dont serve homemade cake to the children but send it home with the children when their parents arrive.

I personally dont know the reason for this but we have loads of children with allergies so it is to play it safe.

Flibbertyjibbet · 02/11/2008 14:16

My dc's nursery accepts the cakes I make for my childrens birthdays... they say its much much better than the shop bought ones everyone else sends.

I have never heard mention of any children in the nursery with allergies but if there were and my cake wasn't accepted for that reason then I would be perfectly ok with it.

I would not object to any other parent at that nursery sending a cake for my own children to eat - I would never suspect any of them of having a rat hole kitchen and I'm sure the other parents wouldn't think that of me either.

I'd far rather have my kids eat a home made cake than one of those revolting sugary sickly coloured overpriced concoctions that they call birthday cakes in the shops.

But then I've never actually asked whether its served to the children or maybe just the staff scoff it on their breaks?

Foxy800 · 02/11/2008 15:31

I agree Flibberty.

As I say we send them home due to allergies in our nursery. So the children are still getting it but we are playing it safe.

anniemac · 03/11/2008 12:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

jop64 · 04/11/2008 20:27

Am I the only one who breathed a huge sigh of relief when DS's nursery asked for any birthday cakes we sent in to be shop bought? Not being the best cook in the world the thought of having to produce something vaguely cake-like was a bit traumatic for me!!
I think it's down to the individual nursery policies but ours is down to allergies and shop bought ones are fully labelled.

bobbysmum07 · 05/11/2008 01:05

It's the nursery's responsibility to ensure that all food served to the children has been hygenically prepared. You can't do that with food that has been prepared in someone's kitchen, where nothing is tempted, nothing is logged, etc. Therefore if a kid gets Salmonella (or whatever) after eating cake that some parent has brought in, it's the nursery's liability because that food cannot be traced back like it can in Tescos.

No way would I ever take that risk in my nursery.

nappyaddict · 05/11/2008 01:29

Why can't the nursery just ask parents to sign a consent form to say it is ok/not ok for their child to eat a homemade cake. Or send it home with them?

SueW · 05/11/2008 07:44

It didn't bother me too much that DD's old school wouldn't let the children take in homemade cakes to be eaten during school time (they too would give them to be taken home), what bothered me was that they told the children it was against the law, which is complete rubbish.

chutneymary · 05/11/2008 08:10

Allergies given as the reason at our nursery. Too many children allergic to / intolerant of nuts, dairy, egg or whatever to allow them to hand out a cake where they don't know the ingredients. I have a fairly skanky kitchen as well, but happily no one has ever asked about that.

As a parent, though, I am delighted. A 5 min visit to Tesco's to buy something for 30 kids and staff vs ages in the kitchen making, icing, agonising over the appearance etc. We make a lot of cakes at home and I always do something good for the kids' birthdays but this gets me off the hook brilliantly and allows me to save my efforts for my own parties.

bobbysmum07 · 05/11/2008 18:06

Strictly speaking, it probably is against the law. Or at least in breach of the food handling regulations enforced by Environmental Health. I'm not saying it's not madness to point this out to the kids, of course. But no reason not to tell the parents.

shhhh · 05/11/2008 20:17

when dd started at preschool in aug in week 2 dd & i made fairy cakes for her to take in..afaik these were given out to the lo's at home time...

dd didn't get one as she leaves early so doesn't have dinner. noon said to me they wouldn't or couldn't accept them or eat them...

Never thought they would..