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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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