No more homemade goodies for school parties?
By jennysp8
@jennysp8 (855)
United States
August 22, 2007 2:38pm CST
I remember when I was in school that when we had birthdays or class parties, our parents would make or buy things for the children to bring in. I went to my daughters Kindergarden Orientation this morning and it was announced that because of "Allergy" reasons, home made food can not be brought in. It must be store bought.
But they did not deem it a must for the store bought food to have the food ingrediant labels with them. Examples of this would be individually packaged and sealed cupcakes. If the box isn't brought in with them, no one has any idea if it may contain something a child is allergic to..other then the obvious chocolate. :-)
So, it is really the "Allergy" concern or is it a more politicly correct way of saying that they are concerned for unsafely made homemade treats (germs/etc)?
What is your take on this?
2 people like this
7 responses
@carmelanirel (20942)
• United States
22 Aug 07
It might be because my sons teacher was going to have volunteers to bring in cookies and it turned out one of the students was allergic to peanuts. (not just allergic, but dangerously so) If it was store bought, not only are all the ingredients are listed, but the company is also required to place a warning if the cookies was even near peanuts or wheat products.
My suggestion was to the teacher, that those who do make things, that they list the ingredients and a note with a warning if it has peanut oil or any peanut products..
Then again, you get people who for some reason or another, just has a means streak and just to do it, they would send in something, that is the way the world is becoming and the school is just taking precautions.
@jennysp8 (855)
• United States
22 Aug 07
I wonder then what percausions the schools will begin to make (or already have - remember - I am new to being a school mom) for children who have food alleriges and get cafeteria food? There are so many children allergic to nuts and such and there could be small traces in some of the foods.
1 person likes this
@wiccania (3360)
• United States
23 Aug 07
That's an interesting point, Jenny. My son doesn't have any food allergies that I know of, but I'm allergic to milk and he reacts similarly to milk if he has more than a few ounces a day. I've mentioned this to the school and all they tell me is that milk will be provided during lunch, and the school doesn't allow students to bring in their own beverages.
So I told them "That's fine. I'm not the one who will have to clean up the vomit."
2 people like this
@crazynurse (7482)
• United States
23 Aug 07
I would imagine that it is a bit of both to tell you the truth. I do know that there have been terrible tragedies with children and allergies. Sometimes, even if a food doesn't contain the ingredient to which the child is allergic, they react if the food was even processed on the same equipement as a food that does contain the ingredient! This is especially true of those with allergies to nuts. With homemade goods there is always the worry that the person's kitchen and/or the ingredients were not clean or that products were expired or what not. I actually think the policy is a good one!
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@andrejuly84 (1047)
• Romania
22 Aug 07
but is the food bought more safely than the one home made?i prefer the homemade food,i guess is more tasty and more healthy
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@shaggin (72125)
• United States
17 Feb 11
As long as this wasent for school lunches and only for parties since the other kids in the class will be eating what I send in I wouldnt have a problem with it at all. Imagine if I sent something in that I didnt know a kid was allergic to and he stopped breathing. I would feel so guilty. Our school isnt doing this though the kids just arent allowed to eat certain food. For a Valentines day party at school my nephew had a child in his class that is allergic to gluten so she could only have two things where as all the other kids had about 16 things to choose from :( At least she got to eat something though. I'm sure shes probably used to things like that happening. I know my daughter is. She cant have anything with rice flour or rice products in it. Until she was 5 1/2 she couldnt have red dye either.
@ranitam22 (1146)
• United States
23 Aug 07
I think it's their nice way of not wanting to trust that everyone has the proper cooking habits like washing their hands and cleaning. It is unfortunate that you can't trust everyone to bring in foods that were prepared correctly, you don't know what's going on in some of these kids' homes. I don't blame the teacher in a sense because it's better to be safe than to have a whole bunch of sick kids running around. It is messed up though because you can just as well get sick from eating something from the store just as you could from home. The people that make the stuff are human too and you don't even know who they are or what type of person they are.
2 people like this
@Laurla98 (786)
• United States
23 Aug 07
Honestly, I think its both. I think it is an allergy concern, but I also think that people are concerned that there could be a sanitary problem. Honestly...you don't know if someone washes their hands or not before they cook something. I can see why they do it. We don't know if what we get from the store is going to be sanitary...but its more likely that they wore gloves & washed their hands because its required.
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