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When my 7 yr old was diagnosed last May, I had contact with the head of Food Service for our district who pleasantly surprised me by saying they already have a GF menu and after I get paperwork from our Dr. documenting his CD, my son could also get GF hot lunch; we completed the paperwork just as school was ending last year.  I e-mailed her recently to request setting up a meeting with her and the food servers at my son's elementary school (where he will be the first celiac) to orient them to procedures to ensure his GF food is safely handled to prevent cross-contamination.  I got a response asking how sensitive he is, and stating they have no way to isolate his food as all 5000 meals for the district are prepared in the high school kitchen.

I'm left wondering how they did it in the past.  How could they say they provide GF food if they have no procedures to prevent cross-contamination?  I've written a draft of a response to her with a number of suggestions/expectations on food handling to ensure their GF meals are indeed GF.

Has anyone talked through the details of how a large school district does this, particularly keeping naturally GF items served to all still truly GF by the time they are served?  I'm under the impression they purchase preprocessed items and simply heat them in large batches and then serve whichever foods a student desires or can have onto their tray as they pass through the line.

My draft suggests having food prep workers change gloves between handling different food items, making sure that utensils used with gluten containing items are not also used for GF items, and that if food comes in contact with counters/work surfaces that they are wiped clean between use for different food items.

My draft suggests that his food is sent from the high school to his elementary school pre-assembled on a covered tray, or if only a special GF entree is sent, that naturally GF side dishes are served onto his plate first and set aside in a warmer until his class comes to lunch to avoid the possibility that an entire batch of something will be accidently cross-contaminated before he gets there.  I also expect that the food servers will change their gloves before handling his food, to avoid crumbs/residue from touching gluten containing items (like dinner rolls) from getting transferred onto his food.

I've skimmed through the recent posts regarding 504 plans but didn't think I needed one, as people sounded very accomodating last May.   Now I'm wondering if I need to learn exactly what a 504 plan is and how to go about getting one, if this situation doesn't shape up quickly.  I don't want to be adversarial with school staff, but we also need to work out a reliable plan to ensure GF food.

I do plan to send lunch from home about 50% of the time, utilizing a thermos, since my son strongly prefers hot food.  I, of course, prefer lunch from home because I feel it is more nutritious than most of what they serve.  However, eating "hot lunch" like the other kids means a lot to my son, and so we have compromised in the past by doing 50% of each.  He was elated last May to learn that he could count on getting GF hot lunch at school. 

Any further suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Dawn


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