Safe Snack List for Children with Food Allergies
This came up in my local support group last night. Food allergies are so prevalent today and the so-called “Safe Snack List” is being recognized as a way to deal with allergic children.
I think its a dangerous practice–especially in grade school where the parent cannot double-check what will be served.
Ingredients change. Manufacturers decide to add wheat starch or dairy, or egg white or they decide get rid of hydrogenated oil and use peanut oil instead. These are all perfectly acceptable things to do but they put those of us with peanut allergy or food allergies at risk when there is no one there to double check.
If the teacher is the one who needs to double check, we really have to make sure that he/she has an education in food allergies.
Does she allow “may contain” foods, does she allow “processed in a facility?”
If fruit is on the list, what if it’s been cut at home by another parent? Does this parent understand the risks of cross contamination?
What if another parent brings in a homemade treat?
What if a parent put chips in individual baggies? The parent tells the teacher yes they’re “Lays Potato Chips” when actuallly they’re a generic version. What kind of oil were they fried in?
Oreos are on the list because the allergy mom knows they are safe. The other parent innocently brings chocolate covered oreos that contain milk.
And does the ‘Safe Snack list” provide a false sense of security? What if a child were to react with a tummy ache or hives after eating a snack? Would a teacher more easily dismiss the reaction as a contact reaction or environmental allergies or even the flu because in his/her mind everything the child consumed had to be safe?
I don’t believe these snack lists are safe and I think if all parents understood the risks, they’d agree.
