A Nut Free School?

[gazzalw]

Have always thought it slightly odd that we've put the occasional pot-full of peanuts/raisins and chocolate bits in DD's lunchbox and it has never caused a major alert at school But finally an edict was issued yesterday saying that the school is now officially a nut-free zone.

We are slightly about it really. It seems like yet another nail in the coffin of freedom of expression in schools (albeit in a different medium!). Whilst I fully appreciate that there is an issue about nut allergies and have every sympathy for families with children/parents with such dietary restrictions, I can't help feel that for some children nut-based products are a healthy option at lunchtime.

Surely the easiest solution would be to put children with sever allergies on one table at lunchtime? And who is to say that other lunchbox products might not have been in contact with nuts anyway?

Am I wrong to be rather annoyed? I seem to recall not so long ago there was talk of banning ham from lunchboxes and possibly cheese too (for health reasons) - what will we be allowed to put in the children's lunchboxes?

Surely if the powers that be want to be so dictatorial about what goes into children's lunchboxes, they should actually consider providing all children with Government-funded lunches as the Scots do?

Basically, the school say that bringing in peanuts when every pupil is made fully aware of the ramifications, is akin to pulling the trigger of a loaded gun when it is pointed at another person...So they treat it with the utmost seriousness.

I really think that asking parents to change where they shop is too much. This is when mistakes happen, the allergic child thinks the school is safe then one set of parents have a busy week and send in crisps/cake/bread from a fresh bakery counter. It's not that they didn't mean to comply.

None of the bread I buy is labelled with ingredients, I wouldn't want to switch to hovis as it tastes horrible and nobody would eat it.

In the case of a whole school site ban as a child is so allergic I think I would have to switch to hot dinners as I couldn't handle that responsibility.

To be honest I can't find anything on google scholar or pubmed that says the severity that Couthymow suggests is at all likely, unless they are working in food environment or maybe on an airplane where a large number of packets of peanuts have been opened.
Common Beliefs About Peanut Allergy: Fact or Fiction?

Haven't read the whole thread but I am wondering why on earth there is talk about banning ham and/or cheese from lunchboxes??

Because some children are anaphylactic to dairy.

Talkin a secondary near me cordoned off and then removed a nut tree because a child there had a severe allergy.

I'm with fallen; I really would only listen to the those affected by allergies in a life-threatening way, oir to medical professionals expert in the subject.

And op, if a nut ban was required to enable a colleague to work in the same office as me there is no way I'd feel like my rights were being infringed. I would be an arse if I did.

"Haven't read the whole thread but I am wondering why on earth there is talk about banning ham and/or cheese from lunchboxes??"

Because peanuts are the not the only thing to cause life-threatening allergic reactions, although you'd be hard pressed to persuade a school of that fact!

But why ham?

I imagine the ham thing is because we're all (well, a lot of us) eating too much processed meat. Or maybe it's the salt thing (that would cover cheese,too). I doubt it has anything to do with allergies.

That is ridiculous! As long as it's in moderation it's fine. The allergy issue is one thing, but this whole policing of lunchboxes really annoys me.

I think the ham is because it often contains dairy (another potent allergen)

What dairy product does it contain?

sodium lactate

Milk protein is often added to cheap packets of processed ham to up the total protein content of the meat.

If you have a dairy allergy (as does my 5 to DD) then it is the proteins that you react to.

Not that I am suggesting a ban on dairy products, as I've said before in this thread I don't agree with nut bans.

It does annoy me when the head at her school makes an emotional plea in her talk to new parents to not bring nuts or nut products into school as children (to be pc always referred to in the plural when I know its only 1 child affected) could be made seriously ill. Of course she doesn't tell them not to bring in yoghurts or cheese straws to protect my DD who is just as likely to end up in hospital.

But the school has learned to cope with her allergy (an epipen is always on hand in the dining room) and DD is learning to take care of herself which is how it has to be

Jenai
That is desperately sad. They killed down a 50 year old tree that had a life expectancy of another 100 years or so for the sake of a child who would be in the vicinity for 7 years tops.
Did they cut down all the hazel coppice in the hedgerows in the child's village too - or was it just the school.

Couthy
I am sure you were told that level of allergy and believed it in good faith but there is ABSOLUTELY no scientific basis for such a claim.
If that level of susceptibility truly existed, walking past a child who had had nuts at home that morning would have killed the child long ago.
Let alone going to a shop, museum, bus, cinema.

Before these nut bans are brought in, schools should ask for a medical specialist's letter to see what THEY think is the best thing to do to protect the child. Rather than relying in on scientifically illiterate protective streak of some teachers when faced with a worried parent.

Really, I never knew that. Is the labelling clear on ham that contains dairy?

mintyneb why don't you agree with nut bans out of interest?

Dancergirl
the experts do not support bans
www.anaphylaxis.org.uk/userfiles/files/FAQs%20in%20School%20Factsheet.pdf

Read question 6 on this page - and the excellently clear answer
www.anaphylaxis.org.uk/what-is-anaphylaxis/faqs

My sons' prep bans nuts and sesame. I can see the logic because everyone has a packed lunch which they eat in the classrooms so it does reduce the risk of nut residue remaining in the classroom in the afternoon.

It is not a hardship not be able to give the children nuts for 5 meals out of 21 but I take on board the points that parents of children with allergies are making.

Dancergirl, fortunately due to labelling laws milk is one of 14 foods that have to be listed on packed food so generally you can see which things to avoid. As yet it doesn't have to be listed on unpacked goods such as bread etc from bakery sections in shops.

I am against nut bans for many reasons. They don't protect my child who is in danger of having an anaphylactic reaction if she were to eat anything with dairy in - and this happened last summer after eating a bread roll that had milk in. I don't want to go through that experience ever again!

They perpetuate the belief that only nuts can kill and that other food allergies can't be that severe or at worst the children with them are fussy eaters.

Bans are incredibly hard to police. Where do you draw the line on foods that may contain nuts or days when someone doesn't check a label properly?

And finally, as crap as it is having a severe food allergy, the responsibility for managing it has to come down to DD and us as a family. Nowhere can be made completely free from nuts, dairy whatever and so a child has to learn from a very young age not to eat anyone else's food, always check with an adult before trying new foods. It would be foolish to think that just because a school has a nut ban a child with a nut allergy is always going to be safe