Talking Allergies

So our Prinicpal has asked us to concider Pizza Day and discuss our concerns with her. I was not expecting to have Pizza Day removed last year and was thrilled that it was on the previous Princials' authority. Now, the thought of it being re-established is teriffying to me.

For those of you with school age children who have dairy allergies, how do you manage Pizza Day? How often is it and what does the school do to keep your child safe?

I meet the Princial tomorrow afternoon.

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb

Our school has pizza day once or twice a month. It is ordered from Pizza Pizza which I believe manages peanuts well - one less allergen for us to worry about. It is not very 'cheesy" pizza - you know the drippy melting cheese pizza that some places serve. Anyways, teachers distribute it to the kids on paper napkins. They eat it at their desks. The kids wash hands and clean desks after eating. We haven't had any problems with pizza day. We have one teacher supervising 2 classes but the classes are right next door to each other. So the supervision is good and her class is well behaved.

Honestly, after being in my daughter's class for the past 3 weeks supervising her afternoon snack (I teach her for one period each day), yogurt tubes actually scare me more. Several kids bring them to school and they are so messy. They are hard to open and sometimes when they open they spray out and are very messy.

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11 year old daughter -- lives with life-threatening allergies to milk, eggs and peanuts; seasonal allergies (birch, maple, ragweed); pet allergies; asthma; and eczema
9 year old son - no allergies

Katec, thanks for your response. Re the yogurt tubes-YIKES!

Having Pizza Day removed meant that we never really had to explore how we felt about it.

I just wish the schools would get back to teaching and leave the feeding to us!

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb

I agree 100%...why does everything always have to be focused around food. If it's fundraising that they want to do then there is a lot of ways of doing it. Not only are children(and parents) being stressed out over pizza day but that once again children are being left out.

When I went to school which wasn't that long ago, we never had pizza day or were rewarded with candy. Everyone either went home or brought their lunch. I wish things could be like that once again.

P.S. Pizza Pizza is not peanut/nut free. I call every once and awhile to see if anything has changed. Their supplier's have "may contain" warnings on their dough etc.

Take care,

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7 year old daughter-Allergic to Peanuts/Nuts
6 year old son-No allergies
4 year old daughter-No allergies

Good to know about pizza pizza. I thought they were nut-free and we are heading to a pizza-pizza birthday next week.

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daughter: 6 years tree nuts, peanuts

Here is a link with all the information...I should have posted it earlier.
http://www.pizzapizza.ca/english/pages/menu/FAQs.pdf

I guess it depends on an individuals comfort level. We ourselves do not allow our daughter to have anything with "may contain" warnings.

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7 year old daughter-Allergic to Peanuts/Nuts
6 year old son-No allergies
4 year old daughter-No allergies

We also don't allow our son to eat items that "may contain" peanuts or nuts. But we have eaten pizza from Pizza Pizza.
Carla, I don't see where you see that their pizza dough says that it "may contain peanuts / nuts"? I've checked out their ingredients list here: http://www.pizzapizza.ca/english/pages/ ... ar2008.pdf and don't see any items (outside of the two bite brownies that aren't made on the premises) that contain or "may contain" peanuts or nuts... but maybe I've missed it? Or is it listed somewhere else?

Also, their "allergen list" states "none" under peanuts and tree nuts: http://www.pizzapizza.ca/english/pages/ ... 132008.pdf

I think their statements:

and


are more about liability than anything else. No restaurant can ever guarantee a patron that their food is allergen free -- that kind of guarantee isn't possible.
Don't get me wrong -- I'm not trying to convince anyone to eat at Pizza Pizza, and I know everyone's comfort level is different - some choose not to eat out at restaurants at all -- but I think as far as fast food establishments go, Pizza Pizza has done a decent job at providing allergen info. and educating themselves.

In my school, it is parents who are pushing for food days. The teaching staff is pushing against it. It is a hassle for us to distribute order forms, collect order forms, pass out food and wait when it is late. We also have to deal with angry and frustrated children whose parents didn't order food but they have to watch others eat a special meal.

We just want parents to provide a lunch for the their child everyday and save us the extra work. The parents want food days to make it easier on themselves. Less lunches for them to make.

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11 year old daughter -- lives with life-threatening allergies to milk, eggs and peanuts; seasonal allergies (birch, maple, ragweed); pet allergies; asthma; and eczema
9 year old son - no allergies

My husband and I met with the principaltoday . She wanted to know if we would be OK with them restarting the Pizza Days program.

We let her speak. She felt that if each student used a wipe after eating, all would be OK. So I walked through the scenario with her. 2 teachers roaming the halls during lunch. How could we be sure that the children did not deviate from their seats during the lunch time? As it is dd has to physically move from her desk which is in a group of 4 over to sit by herself at a table. Now they want the children whose desks are adjacent to her desk to be allowed to eat pizza. Then her desk would no longer be clean. How can I be sure that the door knob, the pencil sharpener, the school supplies are not contaminated?

I told the principal that if she wanted to have a teacher stand over the class and ensure that they touched nothing but their own desk, ate, washed their hands and the desk then maybe, just maybe we would be OK with it. I didn't think that it would be much fun for the students though.

I would have to speak to the allergist-has she ever tried to see a specialist on short notice? to ask his opinion. Up until now it was his request that we keep her home during Pizza Days grades JK through Grade 1. In an effort to avoid reactions which would encourage more IgE's (or something like that). We are doubting that she will out grown her allergens and didn't speak about Pizza Days at the last meeting as we no longer have them. She seemed surprised.

I asked her to concider the effect on a child that the school and classmates are more interested in a fun lunch than her health. The school is trying to maintain an atmosphere of a safe and caring community.

( I had ready but did not provide her with a copy if the school boards policy on fundraising. specifically "Participation of students in fund raising in schools will be voluntary, and consideration will be given to factors such as the age and safety of the students:

Door-to-door canvassing by students will not be permitted
Fund raising activities will not interfere unduly with the learning experiences in the curriculum.' )

I told her that I was not interested in hearing that other parents found it a drag to make lunches. I told her that, given our situation, that was laughable.

It must have worked because at tonights PTA meeting, it was discussed that there would be no Pizza Days again this year. Some sighing and rolling of eyes and I of course sat quitely and smiled. What ever! I am not in this to make friends.

I suspect you are right in that the principal was looking for reasons against implementing Pizza Days.

Thank you for allowing me to rant.

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb

Glad to hear they don't think it's worth the hassle of trying to make your daughter sick.

(I don't think that came out right, did it.)

Glad to hear there won't be any pizza days.

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self: allergy to sesame seeds and peanuts
3 sons each with at least one of the following allergies: peniciilin, sulfa-based antibiotic, latex, insect bites/stings

I'm so glad everything worked out for you Susan. This has made my day...just knowing that the school worked together with you guys and listened....WOW!

Annamarie regarding the pizza dough I spoke with someone from head office. She told me that their pizza parlors are 100% peanut/nut free including their ingredients BUT then she gave me an example of the dough...she said that the factory they get them from make other items with tree nuts to which I then stated well then you can not say that you are 100% nut free!! I prefer to call a company as opposed to going on their website because it does not always get updated that often .

I have called Pizza Nova and they have always guaranteed that everything is nut free except for their spinach, ceasar dressing which come packaged from a different supplier. Dough and sauce etc. are not "may contain".

But like I mentioned and you have as well it is all about your comfort level. Plus I must add that I have learned so much from this website and from all of you guys so I appreciate anything and everything you have to say. So any other input is gladly accepted.

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7 year old daughter-Allergic to Peanuts/Nuts
6 year old son-No allergies
4 year old daughter-No allergies

That's good to know Carla - I've never been given this info. when I've called in the past. Obviously it warrants my giving them another call and pressing further...thanks for the info.

Ethansmom I meant to direct my answer to you sorry Annamarie (I hadn't had my coffee yet when I answered).

Yes, I've been lucky because I've gotten someone different every time I've called. Instead of telling them it's for my daughter I always say it's for me, from my experience I usually get them offering up more information when I do. The woman I spoke with the last time was very sympathetic and then when on to tell me about the dough and that I shouldn't eat their pizza for that reason, she is also the one that told me to call every time.

If you happen to get any other information please pass it along.

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7 year old daughter-Allergic to Peanuts/Nuts
6 year old son-No allergies
4 year old daughter-No allergies

Susan, I apologize for hijacking your thread -- I know a discussion of Pizza Pizza wasn't the intended purpose of your original post -- but want to clear up any misconceptions...

Contacted Pizza Pizza's head office in Toronto, the woman I spoke to suggested I call their Distribution Centre directly at 416-236-1894 (press "0" to have your call directed).

The woman I spoke to at the Distribution Centre was clear in her responses to me (and I was very direct in my questions to her).
1 -- All Pizza Pizza dough is made on the premises in their commissary and it is a peanut and tree nut free facility.
2 -- Pizza Pizza understands the growing incidence of peanut and nut allergy in children and because they participate in school lunch programs have made it their policy to get a guarantee from their suppliers that their products are free of any cross contamination with peanuts or nuts. (Obviously barring the pre-made Two-bite Brownie which is in a sealed package. It may contain traces, but no nuts.)
3 -- Because of this understanding, Pizza Pizza is committed to not introducing any new items into their restaurants that contain nuts or peanuts.
4 -- They have a company wide policy that employees are not allowed to bring in any peanut or nut products into the restaurant.
She added that they don't say they are "nut free" because that type of guarantee isn't possible (as we food allergy folk know...)
What I found really interesting is that her boss (Head of Distribution) is anaphylactic to nuts himself and carries an Epi --

Ethansmom, thank you for posting the info that you received. But I have to say that I'm really concerned about this information. The people working there should get their answers straight. As for me I completely do not trust Pizza Pizza now. I don't know who to believe over there.

It concerns me and frustrates me that they have employees stating different policies and information. Because of my personal experience with talking to them as I've posted in my previous post and now reading what Ethansmom has learned it brings me to the conclusion that I can not trust this company. I just called in August....why in the world would an employee from head office go into a whole story regarding the dough etc.??!!! Very frustrating indeed.

Again, thank you for the information and I too apologize to Susan for hijacking her thread.

Take care,

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7 year old daughter-Allergic to Peanuts/Nuts
6 year old son-No allergies
4 year old daughter-No allergies