Food Allergies and Public Schools ??

[lablover]

I read this thread last night after only a few people responded and was dismayed at the tone of the responses. I feel much better today after seeing that the majority of people do get it. Regarding the question about what the child does when they go to the mall or the grocery store - asking that question shows that you just don't get it. That child/the family has to constantly be on alert no matter where the location. This child has to worry about things that most people take for granted. First, the child can't just walk into any restaurant and order without first researching to find out if the restaurant contains peanuts and if so if they can safeguard against cross-contamination. Secondly, if he does have safe foods to eat, the eating surface would need to be sanitized before he sat down to eat. In grocery stores I'm sure the child does not stroll down the nut aisle. My DD was just diagnosed with a peanut allergy but I would have been more than happy to find alternatives to accomodate a child prior to knowing that. I had her tested because at my MIL's I opened a cabinet that contained nuts while I was holding her and the smell was very aromatic. DD's breathing got raspy. My DS loves PB sandwiches but I switched him to sunflower seed butter and he did not notice any change (I must admit I don't really like it though.) My only consolation is that nut allergies are skyrocketing and it's almost guaranteed that she will not be the only child with this allergy when she gets to public school in 4 years. I'm also holding out hope that they will be closer to finding a treatment for these allergies.

To the original poster, there are always going to be people that don't get it or don't want to be inconvenienced, as sad as that is. Hopefully all of the other parents do get it. I was scared at the response I was going to get from people when I started communicating DD's allergy but I was pleasantly surprised to find that so far everyone, except for one older family member, already understands and does get it

There is a severely PN allergic child at our elementary school (public). He has an assigned seat in the cafeteria. Anyone is allowed to sit with him as long as their lunch is nut free. His mom attends all field trips. That is about all I know as I found this out third hand.

[momofjandl]

Thank you again for all of the kinds posts and thoughts. I definitely don't want this to be a allergy vs. non allergy thread. I really was just trying to get some answers as to how it is dealt with in various school situations.

Several of you have younger kids with allergies and said it is something you are concerned with for the future. If I can give you any bit of advice it is this:

Advocate for your child first and foremost through any means possible. Don't feel the need to feel bad for other parents or try to accomodate them or their needs in any way...like I did. There will always be someone who will be unhappy or put out no matter what you try to do. I am really upset with myself and ashamed that I didn't advocate more and that I tried to compromise. In doing so it sent a mixed message to the parents, the school, and still this mother was upset.

As far as the letter was concenred and its legality. The letter stated the class needed to be free of ...allergens and that the parents needed to sign the form to state that they read the memo, plain and simple. I don't think they would be held liable for bringing something in. But the point being, they need to take the exttra step not to bring something in.

As far as labels are concerned. There are new labeling laws and I am amazed that many of you state you don't have time to read the labels. By law all food labels must have in bold print beneath the ingredients any of the top 8 allergens. So peanut cookies would have peanuts in the ingredient list but would also say in bold Contains: peanuts. It would only take an extra second of your time.

Again, thank you all for your support. If it's one thing I learned, I need to educate people more and not assume that they understand or get it. I also need to advocate more. It wasn't my plan to be on this mission, but my son will be in this school system for the rest of his life. So I guess I've found my new calling as it pertains to the school. There are other kids in the school with food and nut allergies so I will be doing all that I can to help to put new policies in place to ensure the safety for all of these kids. If anyone has taken part in that in your own school system, please email me and let me know how you want about it.

Ruth

[cvanbrunt]

Wow. Clearly the email response from the mom made you angry and rightfully so. It was a selfish and uniformed thing to say. But your umbrage at the people who responded to your inquiry is misplaced. Your original post left out a lot of important detail that is needed to interpret your situation correctly. It's not fair to say people "don't get it" with incomplete information. For example, there's a huge difference between ....."that none of the listed items could be brought to school" and that any outside treats can't contain these items. It's not unreasonable that the first statement could be interpreted to mean kids couldn't have it in their lunch. The fact that this is about a snack completely re-frames the issue. Please don't get angry at people who are responding to the information they are given.

"Stop being ignorant and educate yourself. Would you want your child to come home and say my pbj caused another kid to die?? Do you want that on you or your child? I think if you explained to your children why they couldn't have pbj they would be far more compassionate about it than you."

How is trying to provide an example of why someone might be perplexed or annoyed by how the matter was approached (as explained by you) tantamount to being incompassionate?

My daycare center has a no outside homemade food policy. If parents want to bring something in it has to be prepackaged so the ingredients can be checked. It's to protect kids with allergies. I think its a great policy and have no problem with it. So yeah, I get it. I'd prefer if holidays and birthday parties weren't permitted for other reasons as well. But that's a different issue altogether.

You absolutely should advocate for your boy and the safety of other kids with severe allergies. But you can't angry at people for responding to what you said instead of what you meant to say.

Good luck and I hope you are able to find the support your son needs.

-Carrie

[ilovetivo]

>I should mention (since you asked about severity) that many
>doctors are now considering any allergic reaction risk for
>anaphylaxis. If my son gets hives, there is a chance that an
>hour later he could stop breathing. It's not always an instant
>thing. So doctor's don't test how allergic a child is but
>whether they are allergic or not period.
>

To expand on that - docs don't test for how allergic a child is because there is no test for severity of allergies. High numbers only reflect the likelihood that a reaction will occur, not what type of reaction.

Also, all food allergic kids/people have potentially life threatening allergies. The experts now say "it's not IF you will have anaphylaxis (ANA), it's WHEN". Once can safely eat something all their life and then have ANA. Also, one can react only with hives for years and then have ANA. That's why most (but should be all) food allergic people have epi pens, even if they haven't had ANA before. Some people do react to only ingestion, others react to contact. ANA can happen from contact. Ingestion can be via eyes, nose, mouth.

[ilovetivo]

>As far as labels are concerned. There are new labeling laws and I am amazed that many of you state you don't have time to read the labels. By law all food labels must have in bold print beneath the ingredients any of the top 8 allergens. So peanut cookies would have peanuts in the ingredient list but would also say in bold Contains: peanuts.

---
To expand and clarify: The Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) only states it has to be clearly marked that it has the top 8 allergens (milk, soy, wheat, peanut, tree nut, fish, shellfish, egg). It doesn't need to be stated at the bottom or in bold. So for example it can say whey (milk) within the ingredients. The law does not have to say if it's made on the same production line or in the same facility with the allergens.

Great document abt FA"s and labeling http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/ffalrgn.html

I believe soy lecithin doesn't need to be labeled. The USDA stuff is exempt (meat, poultry, or certain egg products. etc). Molluscan shellfish (e.g. oysters, clams, mussels, or scallops) don't have to be labeled. FALCPA does not cover fresh fruits and vegetables in their natural state nor any highly refined oil derived for a food specified in the major eight allergen group and any ingredient derived from such a highly refined oil.

"Non-dairy" can be on the label even if casein (a milk protein) is in it. It's still allergenic

Also the law was enacted 1/1/06. There may still be boxes on the shelves made before then. And ingredients can change at any time, and the same product can be made in different facilities. The same 2 packages on the shelf next to each other can have different ingredients .

The law isn't perfect and has been studied recently to be confusing and give false security. Also sometimes May Contain items have been shown to have less of the allergen food protein than those products labeled Made In a Facility. From Scott Sicherer MD: http://www.allergymoms.com/uploads/n..._09_17_07.html

"Is it safer to eat products that say "made in a facility that processes" compared to ones that say "may contain" or "processed on equipment that processes" the allergen? For example I buy food in a grocery store which is a "facility" that also has peanut butter!

A: Although our studies also found that parents interpret the words used on the labels as implying different risks, this assumption appears to be WRONG! Researchers in Nebraska took 179 products with advisory labels for peanut, tested 2 different lots of each and found (7%) had detectable peanut. While contamination with peanut was found with various types of warnings on the label, items labeled as being prepared in a "shared facility" happened to have a higher rate of contamination and higher amount of peanut than ones labeled "may contain." This unexpected result indicates that the type of warning is NOT a reliable means to assess risk. "

Some people are disregarding the label Here's the study. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...ubmed_RVDocSum

Let's hope they work on the law and the way food's produced.

[michellep]

>The preschool provides snacks. The only thing affected here
>are parties and classroom bday celebrations.

Can I ask why your son can't have something different on those days? I mean if it's ok that other children bring in stuff with egg or soy in it in their lunch, then why would the party days be different?

That's been the norm I've come across--peanuts sometimes banned but for all other allergies parents of the child with allergies provide an alternative snack if there's any question about ingredients. In this case that responsibility is being shifted to the other parents, which I've never come across before (except again with peanuts).

Trying to understand and thinking about why other parents would be reacting the way they are...

-M

[mamicka]

Ruth, I'm so sorry you're dealing with this. DS has a possible pn/tn allergy & so I understand where you are coming from. I *really* am surprised at how many people can be so heartless. It's very sad.

Allison
DS1 2003
DS2 2005
DS3 2007

[momofjandl]

I'm sorry. You are right. I should have expanded upon this more. It does give a false sense of security. My intent was that for many ingredients like peanuts it is easy to find when it states contains:peanuts.

As far as only having to list the ingredients, are you sure you are correct? DH and I spent a year working and developing allergen free food products (dedided to not go ahead for various reasons) and worked with local food authorities and took several classes on legal issues pertaining to food manufacturing, one of which was food labeling.

It is my understanding that may contain and contains are two different statements. May contain is not required, but contains is and must be seperate from the ingredeints list..not necessarily in bold. So if a product definitely contains egg, peanuts, and the top 8 it must say Contains as well as be listed in the ingredient list.

But again, you are right that there is old packaging on shelves and from the number of FAAN alerts I get manufacturers even forget to put it in the ingredients list altogether.

This is why we bake so much from scratch. :)

I want to thank you personally for all of your posts and wealth of information. You defifnitely have been more than helpful and supportive. Any chance you are in MA or nearby?? I could use an allergy buddy.

As a side note, the dir of the preschool is making an appt for us to see the principal to discuss where things are at. So we will see where that leads.

On another side note, we had a playdate with a neighbor down the street...just met..who's son is also in the preschool. I mentioned my son being the one with the allergies. She got all flustered and changed the subject. She seemed very uncomfortable. I've also noticed a bit of a cold shoulder at pick up and drop off from other moms I had just met recently. So while I shouldn't care, I'm really upset about it. We live in a very, very small town. And I want to reach out to these parents to explain things but we all know how well my email went last time. So I feel like I can't even communicate with the parents which stinks. I'm also now worried as to how DS is going to be treated by other parents and the kids in turn.

Ruth

[lablover]

If you look at the first link in her post it shows that there are two ways they can label a food item. It doesn't have to say Contains: separately, but the top 8 have to be plainly stated, ie: if it lists whey then it has to say (milk) afterwards.

[hobokenmom]

O mom - I agree with you on this, on all your points.

I would also be quite annoyed if a parent actually emailed me with recipes. Look, I understand your kid has life threatening food allergies, but YOU can bake for my kid's birthday if YOU want to. I would prefer for the school to just say that no cupcakes are allowed for birthdays because of dangerous food allergies. I'd just explain to my child why we couldn't celebrate the birthday in school with cupcakes, and maybe we'd choose fruit (or something else). We'd have the cupcakes in our own home.

My child's school is peanut-free, and I'm fine with that.

I'll admit I don't know much about food allergies, but is there any research out there on why kids are having so many life threatening allergies these days? I'm just wondering. It's not like kids were dropping dead of food allergies in the seventies when I went to elementary school, so obviously something has changed.