No more peanut products in the college dining hall??

Parent Cafe
601

<p>I think you are missing a key point of the ruling. The only students this ruling applies to are those that have a serious enough allergy to be recongized as a disability by the ADA. As it has been discussed before only a small portion of all people with food allergies have an allergy which is severe, and that will greatly limit the number of students eligible for these services. </p>

<p>Then you are overestimating the prevalence of PA students that can be at this small college. As another poster explained a few pages back the 4% applies to the general population in the US, and cannot be applied to the college student population in the same way. It then becomes a fraction of that four percent.</p>

602

<p>My guess is that the easiest way for the college to comply and avoid scrutiny is to ban peanuts, regardless if whether there are actually any PA students attending the college. </p>

<p>Such bans may have impacts on the nut industry. </p>

<p>Peri,
Why do you think it is not possible to ban milk, eggs and wheat, etc?</p>

603

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<p>Talk about overkill.</p>

604

<p>Yes, sally, that us what some of us have been arguing from the beginning, but such arguments are made moot once PA becomes labelled a disability subject to the ADA. Then it becomes a civil rights issue, which has serious ramifications for noncompliance. There is not much point in not complying as a matter of course.</p>

605

<p>One issue that nobody has raised yet is this: suppose this small LAC of only 2,000 students bans all peanuts. Would this affect enrollment and revenue from tuition from this school? Peanuts are a staple for many people and they are components of many foods so we are not talking about just no PB&J we are talking about a long list of foods.</p>

<p>I definetly think that enrollment would be affected particularly in terms of full pay students. Full pay students have the family resources to choose which school they can attended without being limited to FA offerings. Wouldn’t you think a full pay student would be put off by a limited menu? I think there are plenty of peanut loving full pay students out there considering the prevalence of peanuts in American diets.</p>

606

<p>I have a hard time imagining that the unavailability peanuts in the dining halls would affect enrollment. Do you really think students have the presence of peanuts on their college checklists (other than PA kids, that is)?</p>

<p>Actually, what it could do is send a message to some students that the school is too “something” (too liberal, too touchy-feely, too politically correct, etc.) for their taste. I wouldn’t agree with such characterizations, but kids take schools off their lists for all sorts of reasons, and as a citizen of a town that banned the sale of single-serve water bottles I’ve seen people make assumptions about a community based on limited information.</p>

607

<p>What is most ounfortunate is that a healthy food has been summarily removed from easy access by thousands of students, about 99% of whom can benefit from its consumption.</p>

608

<p>Sue you couldn’t see lack of peanuts and peanut products appearing as a reason in the “stupidest reason your kid won’t look at a college” and “reasons your kid crossed the college off the list” threads?</p>

609

<p>I think kids wouldn’t notice and that the rare case of a kid or two who would and be upset by it would be balanced by as many kids who had researched peanut free schools because of a PA.</p>

<p>I think what kids care about most is the general quality of food and the availability of things like fresh fruit and options that fit their needs, like gluten-free or vegetarian meals.</p>

<p>I could be wrong, but as a parent who went on a college tour yesterday (and was appalled to see grey vegetables and a kitchen line that looked like it came straight out of a 70’s high school) I don’t think kids look for the PB&J station when they’re in the dining hall.</p>

610

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<p>Agree, so on one hand as I’ve said earlier the school was alittle extreme in reaction because the chance of a kid getting peanut allergy in a cafeteria without injesting it are minute - less than the change of being hit by lightening when they walk about of the cafeteria building, but on the other hand there are thousands of colleges and this might say something about the administration - paternalistic or nervously PC, or legally conservative, or really anything you mentioned. If colleges want to do things like that they are certainly within their purview. If colleges do not want to do this there is no need IMO.</p>

611

<p>FinanceGrad, you wrote, “The only students this ruling applies to are those that have a serious enough allergy to be recongized as a disability by the ADA.” The trouble is, allergists don’t try to predict how severe an allergic reaction might be. If you have a food allergy, you usually receive an EpiPen. If your mouth or throat reacted to a food or medicine, it will be assumed that you’re in danger of anaphylaxis. </p>

<p>Celiac disease (celiac sprue?) does not cause anaphylaxis, but it is explicitly mentioned by the Lesley University agreement. </p>

<p>I don’t see that there would be any problem with a university setting up one dining hall which supplies peanut products, with appropriate warnings on entry points, etc. Many of the colleges we toured had multiple dining outlets. So, the main dining hall might not offer peanut products, but the satellite food courts could, as long as the allergic students had access to comparably nutritious food.</p>

<p>Bay, are you serious when you ask, “why is it not possible to ban milk, eggs, and wheat?” </p>

<p>We know a fair number of kids with allergies. I consider peanut allergies to be relatively easy to live with, as it’s a fairly well-known allergy. An allergy to sesame is much more difficult to live with. Sesame is in many products. It’s very hard to eat in restaurants with a sesame allergy. Peanuts, nuts, shellfish and milk are much more common, and the food servers will be able to check ingredients with the chef. Sesame, however, is not one of the eight allergens required to be listed. </p>

<p>If I had a kid with a sesame allergy, I would be looking for a college at which she could cook for herself. A college which requires all students to participate in the meal plan would not make the list.</p>

<p>I have no idea why Lesley University required all students to take part in the meal plan, other than economies of scale. It’s in Cambridge, which has many restaurants. A little flexibility in allowing allergic and celiac students to opt out of the meal plan might have avoided the lawsuit.</p>

612

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<p>This is exactly why many kids WOULD want a PB&J station. I am surprised you would observe this and then say you don’t think kids will notice that they can’t have a staple of their diets that they might have eaten every single day for lunch throughout their childhoods.</p>

613

<p>Both of us noticed the oversteamed veggies, anemic chicken breasts and lack of any fresh fruit but didn’t notice presence or lack of PB (I just asked her to make sure I wasn’t exaggerating). I don’t think PB would have saved this school’s dining services. :-(</p>

<p>My kids weren’t allowed to bring PB to their elementary schools so it wouldn’t be a big adjustment for them. They’d be much more bothered if they couldn’t grab an apple or a banana.</p>

614

<p>I wanted to post this tragic story because its a good reminder that even banning peanuts on campus may not help save a college students life.</p>

<p>[College</a> Freshman With Peanut Allergy Dies After Eating a Cookie - ABC News](<a href=“College Freshman With Peanut Allergy Dies After Eating a Cookie - ABC News”>College Freshman With Peanut Allergy Dies After Eating a Cookie - ABC News)</p>

<p>Colleges are not cocoons, the students constantly interact with the real world when they go out to eat, go home, go to the grocery story, or even eat other people’s food.</p>

<p>I am also surprised in this story that the mother would not administer an expired epi pen. If that was me the pen would have been going in his leg as soon as he keeled over it wouldn’t occur to me to look at the expiration date. </p>

<p>That’s a question I have for PA kids parents. Is there any risk to administering an expired epi pen?</p>

615

<p>Sue22
My kids would absolutely miss the pb&j station, and I’ve got 3, so are the stats +1 now? :)</p>

<p>My D eats pb on a slice of wheat toast every morning. I already described my S’s daily pb habits. </p>

<p>Your argument that “oh my kids didn’t even notice it wasn’t there,” doesn’t mean much. </p>

<p>Peri,
Yes, I am serious about the eggs, milk and wheat ban. Why do you think I am not?</p>

616

<p>I should have explained why I didn’t consider celiac disease. I know that the ruling mandates the U to accommodate CD students as well. I didn’t address it because celiac is disease is very rare in the US population so the odds of the U getting a CD student are near 0 (not that it couldn’t happen I just focused on the higher likelihood of the PA sufferer ending up in the U even though in the greater scheme of things it is still uncommon).</p>

<p>The prevalence of CD in the United States was 0.71%</p>

<p>[The</a> prevalence of celiac disease in the U… [Am J Gastroenterol. 2012] - PubMed - NCBI](<a href=“The prevalence of celiac disease in the United States - PubMed”>The prevalence of celiac disease in the United States - PubMed)</p>

617

<p>FDad,</p>

<p>According to the source Sally posted a couple pages back, PA is nearly as rare, at 0.6%.</p>

618

<p>^was that directed at me? I am defintely not a dad ;)</p>

619

<p>:) Bay</p>

<p>I know there are some kids who would miss it once they’re there, I just don’t think it’s something kids explicitly look for on a tour. I can’t imagine mine looking around the cafeteria saying "I see the whole wheat pizza, the vegetarian chili, the salad bar, and the ice cream machine, but where’s the peanut butter?</p>

<p>In the interest of disclosure, I asked my junior how she’d feel if they banned PB at her boarding school. She said she’d flip. When I asked her why she said, “Because I put it on my ice cream.” Uhhh…</p>

620

<p>Oops, sorry FGrad, phone texting has its limits. Yes it was directed at you and I think I got my statement wrong too. 0.71% is actually more than 0.6% right? I have trouble with those decimal percentages for some reason.</p>