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Howdy all,

Thanks to everyone who shared their opinions. I did not have a single 
person respond that the rice bar SHOULD NOT have been allowed. In 
fact, most strongly objected to the fact that it was taken and will 
not be allowed. Two people said that their school does the same thing 
- one of whom must personally bake all of the would-be-processed goods 
in her child's lunch to ensure that she is following the policy! Much 
thanks to the perspectives of the parents with peanut allergies. Your 
comments were most useful (as you will see below in my letter).

We had our meeting and the director is going to do some research to 
determine whether her policy is warranted. She plans to primarily get 
her information from parents and medical doctors. She said that she 
will change the policy if there is no reason to believe that there is 
any risk, according to the children's medical doctors. This is the 
letter that I wrote and covered point by-point at the meeting:

On Wednesday, August 13th we received a notice that we would no longer 
be allowed to pack certain rice bars in our son’s lunch because the 
product bears a warning about potential contamination with trace 
amounts of peanuts.

My husband and I requested a meeting with you today to:
(1) verify exactly what your peanut free zone policy states
(2) discuss the impact that this rule has made on our lives
(3) discuss why we feel the rule is unnecessary
(4) if necessary, discuss our child’s rights as a person with celiac 
disease

(1) verify exactly what your peanut free zone policy states
We hope to reach an agreement that allows us to continue bringing the 
specialty (gluten free) foods that allow our son to have a safe and 
reasonable substitute for the baked goods, cookies, rolls, and other 
processed items that the rest of his class enjoys on a regular basis.

(2) discuss the impact that this rule has made on our lives
Many gluten-free processed goods bear advisory statements warning 
against the potential for trace cross-contamination with peanuts. Here 
is a list of gluten-free product types with a peanut warning that were 
in my pantry on August 13th waiting to be packed into future lunches: 
Barbara's brown rice crisps, all of his MiDel cookies, all of his 
Envirokids, Fantastic world foods and Thai kitchen products. Even my 
Spectrum cooking oil has the warning. A much longer list could be 
generated by visiting health food stores that sell these 
alternative/specialty foods.

(3) discuss why we feel the rule is unnecessary
We can look at this quantitatively (point #1) or qualitatively (point 
#2):

Point #1. The science.
Threshold dosing studies have shown that among the most sensitive of 
peanut-allergic children, the smallest dose that produced mild 
objective symptoms was 0.25 mg of peanut protein.
Useful conversion: 1 mg peanut corresponds to 0.25 mg peanut protein. 
Reference: Taylor SL, et. al. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2002; 109:24-32.

A survey of 400 food samples were tested from 200 different packaged 
food types. Detectable levels of peanut protein were found in 7.3% of 
the products. Products labeled “may contain traces of peanuts” were 
documented to contain anywhere between 53-81 parts per million (ppm) 
peanut protein. Products bearing warnings about “shared equipment” or 
“processed on machinery that also processes peanuts” contained less 
than 5 ppm peanut protein. Reference: Hefle SL, et. al. J Allergy Clin 
Immunol.2007; 120(1):171-176.

What this data means about the risk of this particular rice bar: At 28 
grams, this bar might contain 0.14 mg peanut protein, which is 5 ppm. 
Recall that the smallest dose that produced mild objective symptoms 
was 0.25 mg of peanut protein. So, the entire rice bar likely contains 
less peanut protein than the documented threshold.

Point #2. Perspective from the mother of a peanut allergic child.
Here is what the parent of a child with a life-threatening peanut 
allergy has to say about the policy of restricting products that might 
contain traces of peanuts: “I feel very strongly that a school banning 
products MERELY MADE IN THE SAME FACTORY as peanut products is a gross 
over-reaction on their part, and utterly unreasonable. Are they going 
to inspect every single item in every single lunchbox? How about 
sandwiches made on the same cutting board at home that once had peanut 
butter on it? What next, kitchen police? [I] can not protect [my] 
child 100% in ANY environment. I either accept the risk of the unknown 
or keep them home. No peanut butter might be a reasonable rule, but no 
products from the same factory violates your child's rights and your 
own - no school should be setting itself up as kitchen police.”

(4) if necessary, discuss our child’s rights as a person with celiac 
disease
Who is the policy-maker for your peanut free school? Can this person 
or group provide documentation to support the policy? Such documents 
might include published medical or scientific results indicating that 
a peanut allergic toddler/child is at any risk when exposed to 
products containing trace amounts of peanut through 
cross-contamination during processing. If not, the rule infringes on 
the rights of everyone.

Sincerely,
(signed)

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