Severe Peanut Allergy Policies

We will be having a new student enter our schools that has a severe peanut allergy.  We will be reviewing policies and procedures to make our schools a safe place for them.  Here is an email from DPI that will help guide us.  We have also obtained sample school policies from WASB for review.

Hi Katy,
 
Sorry I didn't get to answering your email yesterday, but am kind of glad I didn't because I attended a session on anaphylaxis last night, presented by Dr. Bukstein, a very respected pediatric allergist with Dean Healthcare. He confirmed what I was going to respond to you and gave me some other pointers as well. So as far as banning any food substance from a school, we ask the school to consider the following first:

1. By "banning" a food item from a school, such as peanuts, the school may be placing itself under more liability by inferring that there is no chance of a child coming in contact with that food item. The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN), does not support banning of food items in schools, but suggests that schools take measures to ensure a child's safety by making the school "peanut aware" or "allergen aware" and building policies around that concept.

2. Bans create a false sense of security. In banning a food product such as peanuts, be aware that this means much more than banning peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or peanut butter cookies. In schools where peanuts have been banned, accidental ingestion causing anaphylactic reactions have occurred from baked goods and candies purchased from the school store or given out as classroom treats or treats from the bus driver. Peanut butter or products with peanut butter in the ingredients have been used in classroom projects and art projects. Most people are not aware that some brands of jelly beans have peanut flour in them.

3. A ban can pit parent against parent. It is a divisive force when what we need is the cooperation of everyone in the school to form a safety net around the children at risk. A training program where everyone understands what foods cause allergies, what are the symptoms of an allergic reaction for that child, what action to take, and where medications are stored unites people to work together.

4. How do you decide which allergen(s) to ban (i.e., peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, wheat, soy, fish, shell fish, etc.)? By banning one known food allergen, you may be setting a precedence for the request of banning other food allergen that children in your schools have a reaction to. The majority of allergic reaction are caused by these eight foods listed here.

5. In order for a ban to work, one would have to have everyone in the school constantly reading ingredients labels and calling manufacturers to determine if products contain any of the offending food. While this is reasonable to ask of foodservice in accommodating a documented disability based on a severe food allergy, it isn't a realistic expectation of parents or other school staff when checking any and all sources of foods that children may be exposed to throughout the school day. For example, who would take the responsibility of going through each and every student's snacks or lunches brought from home to make sure there were not any items containing the allergen or processed in a factory or line where there was a potential for cross-contamination.

6. Creating a ban that stigmatizes those with the allergy may be offensive and discriminatory. The majority of children and adults with food allergies want to be treated as "normal" as possible. Creating a ban that stigmatizes them is not what they want. It also doesn't teach young children how to live with the allergy, which may be a life-long allergy. Creative thinkers can devise options to provide safety for peanut-allergic students without isolating them or restricting what the other children bring in.

 I have also attached a handout from the presentation I attended last night, which has some very good information in it about what studies have shown in regard to food allergies in schools. I would also recommend that you and the school nurse watch the following webcasts on special dietary needs to help determine what steps the school may want to take: Looking at Special Needs Through Different Eyes and Working Together to Accommodate Special Dietary Needs (http://dpi.wi.gov/fns/sntwebcasts.html#sdn). You will also want to make sure that you communicate well with all stakeholders, including the family.linda.krueger@dpi.wi.gov


Hope this helps. Please let me know if you have further questions. Have a great weekend! Linda
Linda Krueger, SNS
Nutrition Program Consultant
School Nutrition Team
Department of Public Instruction
125 South Webster St, PO Box 7841
Madison, WI 53707-7841
608-267-9128 Office
608-267-0363 Fax