Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Food Bans

(Please note that I realize that my views do not cover every possible scenario, and I also realize that younger children may have different needs.)

I have thought a lot about food bans in schools, since Sophie has food allergies and since our school has considered a food ban. I am personally not in favor of food bans. I have three basic reasons to oppose them. First, a food ban is unnecessary for most people with even severe food allergies. Second, a food ban creates a false sense of security for those who do have an extremely sensitive allergy. Third, other measures would be more effective in preventing classroom contamination than a food ban.

Food bans--completely eliminating a particular food or food group--are unnecessary for most people with food allergies. Very few people over the age of 4 will have a reaction solely based on the presence of their food allergen. There are many anecdotes about reacting when a sibling ate a peanut butter cup or other similar things, but in reality most children will not react unless they come into direct contact with the allergen. In the rare instance that a child does struggle with allergies after eating with other children, special arrangements might be made for that child to eat in a separate area.

In the event that a food is prohibited from a school (or other environment), it can create a false sense of safety because, in actuality, it is nearly impossible to monitor or enforce a ban like this. While children may move away from peanut butter sandwiches, they will continue to bring other items containing peanuts, such as granola bars and cookies. A situation could easily arise where an allergic child makes an assumption of safety about foods that are contaminated. Additionally, banning a single food, like peanuts, will not solve food allergy problems for most schools. Most children have more than one food allergy and peanuts are not necessarily their biggest concern. Should we start banning multiple allergens from schools?

There are several alternatives to food bans that should be considered. Schools can designate specific areas for eating, and allow food only in those areas. One model might be that children eat all of their snacks and meals in the lunchroom. For a school with no lunchroom, all food could be consumed at the child's own desk. In both scenarios, the areas would be cleaned immediately after every meal. Schools can also institute hand washing before and after lunch, to prevent contact with allergens on the playground and in other areas of the school. Another possibility is to institute partial bans; based on the allergens affecting each classroom, ban the offending foods for that classroom only.

These alternatives to the whole school peanut ban are easier to implement and enforce, can be customized for the needs of the particular student, are less restrictive to the students in general, and model solutions that are more adaptable to the outside (of elementary school) world. In the long run, I believe that students with food allergies will be safer and better equipped to manage their food allergies if these types of ideas are utilized in place of the more generalized food bans.

3 comments:

  1. Schools really do this? When my son entered kindergarten, the nurse and dietician refused to work with our allergies unless they were life-threatening. We had no alternative than to bring our own breakfast and lunch every day. It was very frustrating. It is one of the reasons why homeschooling is such a relief now. But I had no idea that some schools are willing to do things like bans.

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  2. I'm sad to hear that your school was not willing to help you out. I don't think our school would have considered a food ban unless there was a good sized population of children with a life-threatening allergy (which there is!). I hope that you will find more support in your next schooling endeavor.

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  3. Benny Boo and Linsey LouSeptember 13, 2010 at 2:45 PM

    Good insights. I agree with everything you've said here. I think the bans are in place because we all tend to want to build a protective fence around our little darlings. And for little ones, like my son, they are imperritive for safety, since i can't be there and he doesn't have the ability to reason. He just sees it nd wants it, like all the othernkids. I'm going through the phase right now in my life where I have to loosen the apron strings a little bit, and that is so mind stressing when I think about losing any control over the food situations in his environment. But, they have to learn to protect themselves. I want him to he as independent as possible and that means teaching him responsibility for his allergies. Scares the crap out of me, but it has to be done.

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