Our midday supervisors report seeing a noticeable increase in the number of children bringing in Nutella sandwiches. They have raised this as we do try to maintain an environment that is as ‘nut free’ as possible.
We have a small number of children with severe nut allergies and, out of consideration for them, we do ask that packed lunches do not contain nuts or nut products.
Whilst not containing peanuts, the most ‘high profile’ nut allergen, Nutella does contain hazelnuts, which are a trigger for some of our most vulnerable children.
There is not a nut ban – that would be legally unenforceable and against the advice of Allergy UK, from whom we take our guidance. However, as much support as possible would be appreciated.
Our Midday Supervisors are aware of who has these severe allergies and do all they can to monitor the contents of lunches in their proximity to maintain a safe environment. As you can imagine, this is a big undertaking and far from fail-safe. The most helpful thing is to pro-actively not send in lunches which will not trigger allergies.
We will be reviewing our allergy policy in the near future, so the there may be more to come on this.
