For years, peanuts and tree nuts have been considered off-limits in school snacks and lunches as a key precaution to protect those with life-threatening allergies. However, as one Canadian school lifts that restriction, is the tide beginning to turn away from specific food bans?
This is the best summary I could come up with:
As Whitehorse students pluck water bottles and food containers from their lunch bags, something unfamiliar to most Canadian schools emerges: a small tin of mixed nuts.
This month, École Émilie Tremblay unveiled a new policy to allow peanuts and tree nuts, which came after consultations with both staff and families — including those with food allergies, noted principal Marie-Héléne Gagné.
In 2021, the McMaster University professor led an international panel that published a series of recommendations about managing food allergies in schools and child care settings after five years of analyzing evidence-based research on the topic.
The idea of schools lifting nut restrictions is likely alarming for many food-allergic kids and their parents, especially those indignant at the notion food bans create a false sense of security.
Klachefsky has started to ease her “all-consuming” fear for her now nine-year-old son’s safety amid his severe allergy to cashews and pistachios, after realizing Simon himself, some of his friends and others in their circle have gradually become his advocates as well.
Still, she’s aghast at the idea of schools lifting restrictions on peanuts and tree nuts, which are the most common food allergens (followed by dairy, egg, finned fish and shellfish).
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