Schools have been drug- and gun-free for years, but here's a new one for you: Some schools in the School District of Manatee County are now peanut-free.
Bashaw Elementary is completely free of peanuts. Not only does the school cafeteria not offer anything with peanut products, but students can't bring dishes like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from home, said Sandy Ford, the district's director of food and nutrition.
Mills Elementary allows most students to bring peanut products to school; only those students who share a class with a student with a severe peanut allergy cannot, Ford said. "Most schools have a student with very severe allergies."
Mills has been without peanuts about two years, while Bashaw went peanut-free in the spring.
Minnie King, principal of Bashaw Elementary, wrote in the school's September newsletter about the severity of peanut allergies, including witnessing a couple of students having reactions.
" . . . Since it can also be a deadly substance, I believe I must take as many precautions as I can to keep our many children as safe as possible," King wrote. "I also want to avoid the guilt a child or adult might feel if they were the person responsible for a child's adverse and serious reaction to peanut butter."
A committee currently is formulating a policy regarding how all allergies will be dealt with throughout the district, Ford said. The policy will be district-wide once it's in place, but it is still a couple months away from appearing on a school board meeting agenda.
Peanut allergies have been around for years, but their severity probably has seen an increase in the last 10 years, Ford said. "I've been in the business 20 years, and we've been talking about them a long time."
For kids who have a peanut allergy, even minor exposure like touching a nut or cross-contamination, can be dangerous, said LuAnne Howard, a registered dietitian in Bradenton. "Because it can be deadly, I would assume that's why they're going to those extremes."
Ford said the only true peanut product school district cafeterias serve are Uncrustables peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which arrive prepared.
All of Manatee schools' allergen information is on the district's Web site; it also offer peanut butter cups and a salad dressing with peanut oil in it.
Then there are a handful of products that manufacturers don't call "peanut-free" because they may be made in a factory containing peanuts, Ford said. "We really try to avoid products with peanut oil and hidden peanuts because of this."
Monounsaturated fat, which helps lower cholesterol, makes up a high percentage of peanuts' nutritional composition, Howard said. Nuts also contain a little bit of protein, but not enough to make them a good protein source.
Peanuts probably aren't a major ingredient in most school lunches anyway, Howard said, and kids can get monounsaturated fat in other foods at home.
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