Food Allergies at school--No chocolate

[Skywalker]

I am so thankful that neither of my kids have food allergies. I have no problem following a no nut rule. During college I worked in the Emergency Department and I will never forget a college student transported by ambulance and died because she had pistachio ice cream for the first time and didn't know she had an allergy to pistachios

Yes, this is horrific and very sad, however, the issue was that SHE ate pistachio ice cream, not because some other student ate pistachio ice cream.

 

[nugov2]

I think in the younger grades having tighter restrictions in place makes sense. Peanut free classes for snacks is reasonable and then peanut free/ allergy free tables are perfect for lunch. I think bans are not right for lunch because as many have pointed out it isn't realistic and kids do need to learn to be there own advocate.

We had a kid who was allergic to smell and the mom wanted to have smencils banned from the school. I just kept thinking how do you function in the real world. Anyone can have perfume on, she didn't want that banned. Just smencils. It was so odd.

 

[Christine]

What the heck are smencils?

 

[Art 1]

What the heck are smencils?

Googled and found with in 5 seconds that they are gourmet scented pencils. Never heard of them either.

 

[Christine]

Googled and found with in 5 seconds that they are gourmet scented pencils. Never heard of them either.

Yeah, I was too lazy to do that. Smelly pencils, sheesh.

 

[pjlla]

All over the boards on my feelings about this. I have a DS with some significant and UNUSUAL allergies (not peanut fortunately) and when his school started talking about being peanut-free and substituting almond butter or Sun nut butter, I was upset.... because he is allergic to those two items. But I didn't fuss or squawk..... I just talked to him about avoiding friends who might have this in their lunch/snack, about washing his hands frequently, and about seeing the school nurse if he EVER felt like he was having a reaction. I found something ELSE for him to eat (like a previous poster, he was a dedicated pb&j eater for school lunches).

My son is severely allergic to pumpkin (yes, flesh and seeds) and less-severely allergic to chicken/turkey. But does that mean we stay home during Thanksgiving and eat pizza? No! We have found ways to work around this (and fortunately neither item is apt to have significant airborne particles). Does that mean that the school shouldn't / can't offer its traditional "pre-Thanksgiving with all the fixins'" meal because my DS is there? No. I need to make sure he knows how to work around it.

I am also a substitute teacher and I have been in situations where I have been told ahead of time that when working in a particular class I am to avoid eating peanut butter that morning/day and avoid wearing any fragrances (which means no deodorant, face cream, shampoo that has fragrance)..... and while this was a PITA, I was diligent about it because I certainly didn't want to be the one to cause a reaction in this particular student!

I guess I'm just saying I'm torn. Part of me wants to say (in my best Star Trek voice)..... "when do the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many?"....and of course in the reverse "when do the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few/one?" .... and to me, the answer would be when it could potentially be life threatening.

Are we taking away a child's basic rights by saying "no" to certain foods because another student is allergic? Are we taking away the OTHER student's rights by NOT keeping the allergens away or at bay? WHO KNOWS!? I think most school will end up with dedicated dining areas for kids with allergies (of course, when you multiple different allergies it may end up being multiple dining areas!! :0 ) . I've seen it on college campuses already.............P

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

All over the boards on my feelings about this. I have a DS with some significant and UNUSUAL allergies (not peanut fortunately) and when his school started talking about being peanut-free and substituting almond butter or Sun nut butter, I was upset.... because he is allergic to those two items. But I didn't fuss or squawk..... I just talked to him about avoiding friends who might have this in their lunch/snack, about washing his hands frequently, and about seeing the school nurse if he EVER felt like he was having a reaction. I found something ELSE for him to eat (like a previous poster, he was a dedicated pb&j eater for school lunches).

My son is severely allergic to pumpkin (yes, flesh and seeds) and less-severely allergic to chicken/turkey. But does that mean we stay home during Thanksgiving and eat pizza? No! We have found ways to work around this (and fortunately neither item is apt to have significant airborne particles). Does that mean that the school shouldn't / can't offer its traditional "pre-Thanksgiving with all the fixins'" meal because my DS is there? No. I need to make sure he knows how to work around it.

I am also a substitute teacher and I have been in situations where I have been told ahead of time that when working in a particular class I am to avoid eating peanut butter that morning/day and avoid wearing any fragrances (which means no deodorant, face cream, shampoo that has fragrance)..... and while this was a PITA, I was diligent about it because I certainly didn't want to be the one to cause a reaction in this particular student!

I guess I'm just saying I'm torn. Part of me wants to say (in my best Star Trek voice)..... "when do the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many?"....and of course in the reverse "when do the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few/one?" .... and to me, the answer would be when it could potentially be life threatening.

Are we taking away a child's basic rights by saying "no" to certain foods because another student is allergic? Are we taking away the OTHER student's rights by NOT keeping the allergens away or at bay? WHO KNOWS!? I think most school will end up with dedicated dining areas for kids with allergies (of course, when you multiple different allergies it may end up being multiple dining areas!! :0 ) . I've seen it on college campuses already.............P

I know I said previously I would change my diet but how do you fuction with out wearing deodorant and washing your hair no offens but that is weird and gross

 

[Christine]

I know I said previously I would change my diet but how do you fuction with out wearing deodorant and washing your hair no offens but that is weird and gross

She said she can't use those items that are fragranced. There are plenty of fragrance free deoderants and many shampoos that have no smell once rinsed out.

 

[Lisaloo]

Chocolate?! Sounds like more families need to consider home schooling for their allergy riddled kids. That is ridiculous.

 

[3Gsandme]

My kid has a really severe peanut allergy, so I'm kind o up on the allergy thing and I've never heard of a chocolate allergy so severe it needs a full school ban and would be interested in what is REALLY going on there as well.

Since this is another allergy thread (yay!) I'm going to give my usual run down on how allergic people live life with severe food allergies.

1) We hate asking the general public for help. We know you think we're full of crap and should keep our kid in a bubble and homeschool them. We know we irritate you. We really don't want to have to ask you not to send peanut butter cups has a Halloween treat. We know you're sighing and rolling your eyes and "can you beleive this crap"ing us.

2) I do NOT advocate a full school ban except, perhaps in preschool. We MUST teach our allergic children to live in the real world and that includes business lunches with thai food and contraband brownies at sleepovers. I think full bans create a false sense of security for our allergic kids and doesn't give them important skills they need like asking about the safety of their food

3) Allergic people wash their hands a LOT. They skip a LOT of fun things your kids probably get to do without thinking. Oh, nothing that will kill them or ruin their lives. We dump their trick or treat candy and replace it with safe stuff we bought them. We dump their classroom party candy and treats. In fact, my allergic kid won't eat your lovely, homemade treats. We taught her not to. We're not being disrespectful when we don't eat them even though you say they don't have peanuts in them. We believe you there, but we don't know how you handle food preparation in your home or whether or not your chocolate chips really are peanut free and not cross contaminated. We make sure we offer to bake for every single school party so our kids can eat something prepared safely at home instead of watching all of her classmates eat goodies she can't have. We bring our own, safe snack to birthday parties she's invited to. We wash our hands every time we handle something someone else may have handled. We don't share school supplies after lunch because little kids are gross and don't wash their hands after they eat.

4) We badger every single waiter and chef and hostess at any restaurant we eat at to make sure that all the ingredients they cook with are safe. We stick to major chains (gross) because they post their allergy information on-line and update it.

5) We host the sleepovers. We bake and decorate the birthday cakes by hand because most commercially produced birthday cakes aren't safe.

 

[elaine amj]

I agree with bans on a specific basis where they make sense. For many years our grade school wasn't peanut free...but classes would go peanut-free if we had an allergic kid that year. Our school did go scent-free - we had a teacher with severe scent allergies. That made sense.

I don't see a point in an ingredient ban if the child just cannot consume the food - only if there is an airborne particle risk. Like PPs have pointed out, allergic children need to (and can be) taught from a young age to keep themselves safe.

I get that life is harder for an allergic kid - but life just isn't all that fair. My son struggles with his school work and has to work about 10x harder than his sister to produce the same level of work. I just tell him he has to suck it up and work harder.

 

[aprilgail]

.

We had a kid who was allergic to smell and the mom wanted to have smencils banned from the school. I just kept thinking how do you function in the real world. Anyone can have perfume on, she didn't want that banned. Just smencils. It was so odd.

Wow smencils were one of the biggest fundraisers in the school! Every kid wanted those smelly pencils LOL. We even sold them on open school night- its just parents that go- not supposed to bring kids to open school night, so we set up in the lobby, even made a pretty package of one of every scent, put it in a cello bag and tied it with ribbon and the parents all bought them to leave on their kids desks for the morning. We actually sold out that night!

 

[Baklava]

It may be rare, but I have an Aunt who has it, and yes, she was tested.

Was it anaphylactic and airborne? I've never heard of a chocolate allergy severe enough to be treated like a nut allergy, but that doesn't mean they don't exist.

 

[Dis703]

I have never heard of a chocolate allergy. A quick Google search seems to state that a true allergy is rare. One site said this: Allergies to cacao (the bean that is the main ingredient in chocolate) are possible but so rare as to be virtually nonexistent in recent medical literature. Therefore, if you've experienced food allergy symptoms after eating chocolate, you can safely assume that another ingredient in the chocolate is causing your symptoms unless testing shows otherwise.

I have to wonder does this child really have a severe allergy or is it like somebody that gets a rash etc that's an "annoyance" and not life threatening? Wondering if this is a mom making a mountain out of a molehill.

I also agree that by middle school a child should be able to handle their allergies well.

While rare it's definitely possible that it's a true allergy. My oldest had life threatening reactions to rice, oats, and tapioca. All extremely rare allergens. But he has a rare allergic condition for which rice and oats are common triggers.

 

[wilkeliza]

My kid has a really severe peanut allergy, so I'm kind o up on the allergy thing and I've never heard of a chocolate allergy so severe it needs a full school ban and would be interested in what is REALLY going on there as well.

Since this is another allergy thread (yay!) I'm going to give my usual run down on how allergic people live life with severe food allergies.

1) We hate asking the general public for help. We know you think we're full of crap and should keep our kid in a bubble and homeschool them. We know we irritate you. We really don't want to have to ask you not to send peanut butter cups has a Halloween treat. We know you're sighing and rolling your eyes and "can you beleive this crap"ing us.

2) I do NOT advocate a full school ban except, perhaps in preschool. We MUST teach our allergic children to live in the real world and that includes business lunches with thai food and contraband brownies at sleepovers. I think full bans create a false sense of security for our allergic kids and doesn't give them important skills they need like asking about the safety of their food

3) Allergic people wash their hands a LOT. They skip a LOT of fun things your kids probably get to do without thinking. Oh, nothing that will kill them or ruin their lives. We dump their trick or treat candy and replace it with safe stuff we bought them. We dump their classroom party candy and treats. In fact, my allergic kid won't eat your lovely, homemade treats. We taught her not to. We're not being disrespectful when we don't eat them even though you say they don't have peanuts in them. We believe you there, but we don't know how you handle food preparation in your home or whether or not your chocolate chips really are peanut free and not cross contaminated. We make sure we offer to bake for every single school party so our kids can eat something prepared safely at home instead of watching all of her classmates eat goodies she can't have. We bring our own, safe snack to birthday parties she's invited to. We wash our hands every time we handle something someone else may have handled. We don't share school supplies after lunch because little kids are gross and don't wash their hands after they eat.

4) We badger every single waiter and chef and hostess at any restaurant we eat at to make sure that all the ingredients they cook with are safe. We stick to major chains (gross) because they post their allergy information on-line and update it.

5) We host the sleepovers. We bake and decorate the birthday cakes by hand because most commercially produced birthday cakes aren't safe.

Just wanted to say I commend what you do. I don't think what you are describing is asking too much.

If someone was to tell me not to give peanut butter to their child for Halloween I can do that! I don't think that is going to the extreme. As you said as well your daughter has learned her allergy. My step-nephew is the same way. When we cruise and do Fish Extenders we always ask what allergies there are. Then we make sure whatever candy we may add is allergen free. A few cruises ago we had to ax candy all together because there were just too many allergies. We didn't want any little ones to feel left out so we just kept candy out of the gifts that time and put in stickers and age appropriate toys instead.

 

[nkereina]

Sorry if I'm repeating (didn't get a chance to read all the replies yet), but this is akin to Ghiradelli in Downtown Disney removing all peanut/peanut butter items from their menu due to their being conscious of allergies. I can understand precautions taken in a classroom, especially with small kids, but I think the buck should stop at a corporation that specializes in desserts where it's pretty known peanuts will be present. The majority of patrons must go without because of the small percentage that MAY be impacted... tough to wrap my head around.

All the allergies this day and age are mind blowing. I'm 29 so it's been a few years since I was in elementary/middle school, but I never once had to take food precautions because of a classmate with an allergy. Crazy how times change.

 

[cijay]

I have all respect for food allergies, I have three very bad ones. As far as I'm concerned, it is the holder of the allergy's responsibility to take of him or herslf. They don't sell or give peanuts on planes or at sporting events because if someone allergic gets a sniff of one, they got into shock and they die. So where were all of these dead people before? Just about every school has a kid deathly allergic to nuts, it seems. How come we never hear about kids dying at school because someone DID take peeanut M&Ms to school?So...how do these kids survive in malls, other peoples' homes and airports?

It's the allergic person's duty to avoid the doorknob situation and wash his or her hands before touching his or her lunch. If it's more severe than that, wear gloves. I mean, what if a kid has peanut butter in the car on the way to school then touches the doorknob? Banning nuts from a school isn't going to help that. Or sitting next to someone on the bus?Going into a grocery store? Movie theatre?

One thing I had to learn to not use is community microwaves. Tomato gets into the steam on there and I'm hooped.

 

[3Gsandme]

Sorry if I'm repeating (didn't get a chance to read all the replies yet), but this is akin to Ghiradelli in Downtown Disney removing all peanut/peanut butter items from their menu due to their being conscious of allergies. I can understand precautions taken in a classroom, especially with small kids, but I think the buck should stop at a corporation that specializes in desserts where it's pretty known peanuts will be present. The majority of patrons must go without because of the small percentage that MAY be impacted... tough to wrap my head around.

All the allergies this day and age are mind blowing. I'm 29 so it's been a few years since I was in elementary/middle school, but I never once had to take food precautions because of a classmate with an allergy. Crazy how times change.

But that assumes more people notice and/or care than are impacted by the allergy and it assumes that business will be negatively impacted by not offering the peanut/nut products. It assumes that majority of patrons care about getting peanuts/nuts at Ghiradelli. I suspect most people don't care or that not enough care that it counters the benefit Ghiradelli receives from being peanut/nut free. Because it can be so difficult to get the sort of food Ghiradelli serves in an allergy safe environment, I'm betting they saw an increase in business. If your kid can never have ice cream sundaes, when you get an opportunity to get them one you do. Every time. And you buy the big ones to make up for all of the ones they can't get all the other times. It's probably pretty good business, especially at a Disney Park where they are known for being allergy friendly.

 

[3Gsandme]

I have all respect for food allergies, I have three very bad ones. As far as I'm concerned, it is the holder of the allergy's responsibility to take of him or herslf. They don't sell or give peanuts on planes or at sporting events because if someone allergic gets a sniff of one, they got into shock and they die. So where were all of these dead people before? Just about every school has a kid deathly allergic to nuts, it seems. How come we never hear about kids dying at school because someone DID take peeanut M&Ms to school?So...how do these kids survive in malls, other peoples' homes and airports?

It's the allergic person's duty to avoid the doorknob situation and wash his or her hands before touching his or her lunch. If it's more severe than that, wear gloves. I mean, what if a kid has peanut butter in the car on the way to school then touches the doorknob? Banning nuts from a school isn't going to help that. Or sitting next to someone on the bus?Going into a grocery store? Movie theatre?

One thing I had to learn to not use is community microwaves. Tomato gets into the steam on there and I'm hooped.

The problem seems to be, and no one really has an answer for this yet, is that instances of allergic people are increasing. That means, there are MORE allergic people, percentage wise, than there were we (maybe me? I'm 39) were growing up. Food allergies in kids increased 50% from 1997-2011. Why? Scientists don't know yet. 15 million Americans have food allergies. Mathematically, that's 5% of the population or 1 in 20 and that means more people with severe allergies. Again, why? We don't know yet. I'm surprised you don't know that as an allergic person, to be honest. The reason why this didn't happen 20 years ago is because this wasn't happening 20 years ago. Somethings has happened or changed and science doesn't know what.

Personal responsibility is a VERY important part of managing allergies, as you well know. However, as you also know, there's only so far you can take that responsibility until it fails and then that's when allergic people need the help of others. You point out that some ballparks have gone peanut free beause "one sniff" and they "go into shock and die". It's not that simple, which I'm surprised you don't know. Peanut dust and peanut particles will settle literally everywhere and there's no reliable why for an allergic person to clean their hands well enough to keep themselves safe. If a ball park chooses not to serve peanuts in order to serve allergic guests, why does that matter? I'm not saying a protest forcing them, I'm talking about their choice. If they decide it's good for business, why does that matter? It doesn't.

Now, regarding airborne allergies, planes get the worst rap because of the "mass event" of the entire cabin opening packages of peanuts at the same time (allowing a higher than usual concentration of peanut dust/particles into the air) coupled with recirculated air. Airborne allergies are really rare. REALLY rare.

 

[diznygirl]

The problem with making everything peanut-free, is that it ignores all the other allergies. And like a previous poster noted, frequently the substitution is something that someone else is allergic to.

It would be better to just be more open about ingredients, so that allergic people don't have to guess or just do without in an effort to be cautious. I'll use our experience at the Food and Wine Festival as an example - my son had a mild reaction to the vegetarian Haggis. No one at the booth had any idea what the ingredients were. He's not allergic to any veggies, so it had to be a filler. But nobody knew. I tried contacting several people at Disney to track it down - no luck there. Someone has to know what is in the food they serve. And why not let the public know, so they can make an informed choice?

We are all about having him be able to control this himself, but unless someone with an allergy knows what's in the food, they would have to fall back on a "safe" option. And how much fun is the Food and Wine Festival if all you can eat is a cheeseburger, no bun?