Nut allergies see Waikato schools enforce ban on lunch boxes

St Joseph’s Catholic School is one of many Waikato schools to turn their grounds into a “nut free” zone.

The ban means nuts, nut spreads, and products that directly contain nuts are prohibited.

Parent Jacqui Nielson said she was fully supportive of the school’s decision and believes most parents agree with the ban.

“All you have to do is not give your kids peanut butter or nut bars really. There are lots of different foods that don’t have peanuts in them. I’ve come from a kindergarten with a complete ‘no nut’ policy as well. It wasn’t a big change for us as it was something that we were doing before.

“My kids have been going there for a few years now and it’s only recently it has become completely nut free. But we don’t have an issue with it,” she said.

Jacqui said she did not know of any other parent who was angry their child could not have nuts at school.

“I just think it’s unrealistic I would feel very upset if my kid could die from [a peanut allergy] and one parent said ‘No my kid wants to eat peanut butter and sorry your kid will die, but I cannot buy something without a nut in it.’”

The school, which includes information in their newsletters about the policy declined to comment.

A parent of a child at a local pre-school, who does not wish to be named, agrees  schools need to monitor nuts but feels it will be difficult to enforce.

“I think it going to be virtually impossible as just about every food has nut traces in it, but they are cutting down on the main sources.”

She said that when it comes to other foods and children some schools are not consistent.

“We are allowed peanut butter, but we are not allowed any kind of nuts at all. So I think some of their idea is about it being a choking hazard. It is frustrating because I could be giving my child nuts to eat at school because there are only so many food groups that he likes.

“You worry about getting all the nutrition into them. So if they are being inconsistent its annoying because you want to give them the other food as well. Nuts are one of the easiest foods to give children and there are other foods that are easy to put together but not as healthy.”

The president of Waikato Principals Association Pat Poland said boards of trustees were obliged to act if nut allergies were a particular concern.

“When a Board of Trustees knows of a potential threat or risk to children or staff, they must take every reasonable measure to remove or manage the risk. If there is a child in a school who has a severe nut allergy – to the extent where death could occur in a very short space of time if the child even touched or smelled a nut – then a ban on nuts is a very necessary measure.  I believe the school is acting responsibility and reasonably.”

And the CEO of Waikato Kindergarten Association Maree Stewart said they are aware of children with allergies and have to be very mindful.

“It certainly is intriguing these allergies, particularly peanut allergies because it is so severe. The whole school or kindergarten has to be aware of it as obviously children’s safety is paramount so you have to take it seriously,” she said.

Stewart said all kindergartens and education care centres have staff who hold current first-aid certificates are taught to administer an EpiPen.

“About five years ago we included being able to use an EpiPen as part of their first-aid training. Teachers are aware of the seriousness of allergies and certainly the ramifications.”

Although the kindergarten’s and education care centres across the Waikato do not ban nuts, Ms Stewart said they still take the same precautions if a child is affected by an allergy.

“What we do is if a child with an allergy should come into a kindergarten then we need to put management in place for that time. We can manage it on a kindergarten to kindergarten basis depending on the needs of the child.”

Allergy and intolerance diagnoses have been rising over the past few years and New Zealand Registered Dietitian and Nutritionist Cathy Khouri said this could be to do with the new knowledge people have.

“There have been a number of reasons that have been put forward by the experts who are dealing with the treatment of these allergies, and also studies that have looked at the evidence behind the increase. One of the reasons being there is a higher awareness of the fact that allergies do exist and are there.

“There has also been an improvement in diagnosis of allergies, which means people are coming forward and taking their symptoms to doctors to be diagnosed rather than going under the radar,” Ms Khouri said.

Parents concerned their child may potentially have an allergy or intolerance to a particular food, should take their child to a doctor to be formally diagnosed.

Ms Khouri said that by eliminating a food at home without a correct diagnosis can lead to complications such as “a reduced ability to reach the recommended intake for some of those micronutrients which are important”.