<p>Onward, you can eat your plain M&M’ s. It is a CYA (cover your ###) ingredient declaration. I have some first hand knowledge. Enjoy!</p>
<p>I just feel the need to clarify something. A person with untreated Celiac has a higher risk of death than one that does not. The only treatment is avoidance. Consuming gluten is just a path to a slow death for those with Celiac. Eventually, their bodies stop absorbing nutrients that are necessary to life. So, just because death will not result immediately from a person with Celiac eating foods containing gluten does not mean that their health concerns are any less important than those who have immediate life-threatening allergies to nuts and shellfish.</p>
<p>There are many Celiacs who cannot eat anything that was not produced in a gluten-free environment. Therefore, I think it stands to reason that one eating in a cafeteria where gluten-containing foods are also served may be risking their long-term health unknowingly.</p>
<p>It appears that the incidence of celiac disease in the US is about .7%–pretty close to the .6% for nut allergies. [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>
<p>I think it would be reasonable to have one dining hall be both gluten and nut free.</p>
<p>I do live in an apartment, plus our school doesn’t really have a dining hall in general, it was more of a statement then wanting my school to change for me.</p>
<p>I find it’s just as difficult as when out with a friend who has a nut allergy, except that nuts are usually declared in foods and mushrooms aren’t so when asking ‘are there mushrooms in that/cooked near?’ People don’t always know</p>
<p>
Avoiding mushrooms must be tough–they’re used in so many cuisines. I guess you could eat in fried chicken places, probably.</p>
<p>A 13 year old Calif. girl recently died after taking a bite of something with peanuts, even though she spit it out right away. I do understand that this must be a devastating allergy for anyone to deal with. However, after college, they are eventually going to have to venture into the real world and they won’t have any special considerations there. I don’t mean to be cold, but it does not seem fair to me to punish the rest of the student body given that there is only 1 dining hall on campus. I think the school does need to make special accomodations for any students in question, but more along the lines of providing an apt. with a kitchen at no additional charge over regular dorm prices. On-campus meal plans are very expensive and should not limit availability of such a common food ingredient.</p>
<p>Actually, nuts are not always declared in foods in restaurants, bakeries etc. in the 80’s a Brown student died after eating at a local restaurant that used peanut butter to thicken their chili. She did have epinephrine with her and the EMTs at that time, I believe were either not allowed to carry it or not allowed to administer it. This case changed the rules.</p>
<p>Maybe I’m too cynical but I’m wondering if perhaps someone who is “important” at the college has a student with this allergy and that’s why there is the ban at the only dining hall. Obviously everyone’s kids health is important… its just some people tend to have a lot more “pull” than others.</p>
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<p>You really think going without peanut products in a college dining room qualifies as punishment? Someone else referred earlier to people who feel “entitled” to have their personal situations accommodated and even an ER nurse doesn’t seem to be aware of how dangerous peanut allergies really are.</p>
<p>Here’s a link to the story about the 13 year old girl who died as a result of tasting a rice krispie treat containing peanut butter (who makes them that way anyway?). She spit it out immediately, and epi-pen was available and used, and her own father (a physician) was there to treat her until the paramedics arrived, but couldn’t save her. That’s how serious these allergies can be so it’s really beyond me how some people think that those with these problems should just suck it up and deal.</p>
<p>[13-Year-Old</a> Girl Dies From Peanut Allergy After 1 Bite of Unmarked Dessert (VIDEO) | The Stir](<a href=“http://thestir.cafemom.com/big_kid/159007/13yearold_girl_dies_from_peanut]13-Year-Old”>Parenting, Baby Names, Celebrities, and Royal News | CafeMom.com)</p>
<p>Jojoblue,
Your mistaken. Read my posts.</p>
<p>I am curious if other countries have such a large number of people allergic individuals? </p>
<p>One of my kids is allergic to peanuts, most nuts, shellfish, soy, many fruits and quite a number of vegetables. A major allergan is carrots. She spent a year working abroad in a country that no one seemed to “get” that she could not eat certain foods.They didn’t get it was a health issue not an issue of not wanting to eat the food. It was a job that provided most meals and also many meals out in a culture that it is insulting to not eat what is served to you. It was a difficult year.
She is now an adult and is pretty good at avoiding foods that cause her a problem. She no longer carries an Epi-pen but keeps benadryl in her purse. In my D’s case her throat swells versus a skin reaction. She was surprised recently when flying that one of the airlines was serving peanuts again.</p>
<p>LOL, it’s just one “Jo” in my name, milkandsugar.</p>
<p>In your second post you said that your own sister had died from an allergic reaction so it is surprising to me that in your first one you said:
</p>
<p>Obviously you do know to take allergic reactions seriously which is why I was remarking upon what you said above. Seemed inconsistent to me.</p>
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<p>Or. some people actually care about others. That’s another explanation.</p>
<p>I love peanut butter. Love it. Still wouldn’t see it as a “punishment” if I had to have it in my room. I can think about people other than myself.</p>
<p>Joblue,
IMO it is an over reaction. What about others with severe food allergies? We are micro managing everything.</p>
<p>I am a parent with life threatening allergy to peanuts- it was very difficult growing up as i was the only person I knew with this issue and it was long before the epipen! On rainy days, I would sit and eat my lunch in the principals office because if anyone had peanut butter, I could die- I have learned to be careful but still you never know, I am aslo gluten intolerant so Mexican food is an easy choice although recently while dining out I ordered an enchilada and lo and behold ended up in the hospital- there was PEANUT POWDER in the sauce! I have never heard of that before nor would it occur to me that croutons( which I don’t eat) can be made with nuts as well!
I love that people are sensitive to the needs of others- this is a lfe threatening issue and honestly, it is just food- the fact that it is only one dining hall makes it pretty easy for the peanut eaters doesn’t it - when you think that simply eating peanut butter and just breathing or touching someone could kill them, is it really a question?
I understand it is a small population that suffers( thankfully my kids were spared although a nephew and niece have it) but is that number not important enough for a safe eating enviornment when it is just one dining hall?
I actually had a home ec teacher who didn’t believe me when I told her I couldn’t be in the room during peanut butter cookie cooking- that was the only time my mother met the principal!!!</p>
<p>
Much as we would all like our kids’ lives to be ideal in every respect, it won’t always be possible. At college my D was friends with boy confined to a wheelchair. His life was far from ideal, but he dealt with his limitations. You have to cope with what life throws at you, and in the scheme of things, not bring able to eat in a school cafeteria is a pretty minor impediment.</p>
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What is the number for peanut allergies, the subject being addressed by the new policy?</p>
<p>It’s one thing to have one dining hall be allergy specific (just as it’s fine to have one be kosher, vegetarian, vegan, etc) but it’s another if that’s the ONLY dining hall. For those that have dairy allergies and are vegetarian, peanuts and its derivatives are a huge source of protein. Yes, vegetarianism is a choice and not on the same level as a life-threatening allergy, but it’s still a huge pain for those types of people too if that’s taken away. </p>
<p>I do have sympathy for sufferers, but I think it is FAR more reasonable to accommodate that one student (or few students) with a meal plan exemption and maybe a single or apartment than it is to deny those peanut products to all students. Are students also prohibited from having peanuts and peanut products in their halls? Where does it stop?</p>
<p>I LIVED on bowls of peanut butter and celery sticks my first two years of college because the food in the cafeteria was so disgusting. (I don’t eat eggs, so my options were fairly limited.)</p>
<p>I know people with severe allergies and I feel for them. But I also think life isn’t always fair, as MommaJ said. We were about to get on a long flight a few years ago when the gate agent announced that someone on the plane had a severe peanut allergy and could we please all throw away anything containing peanuts. There went the granola bars and trail mix I was going to feed my kids. Other parents had packed PB&J for their families. No one compensated us for the inconvenience and waste of throwing away our food or replacing it with something from the airport (nor did they allow us time to get substitutes). So the person with the allergy got to have a peanut-free plane, but there were a lot of crabby passengers and screaming kids as a result (not that there aren’t otherwise:)).</p>
<p>“Or. some people actually care about others. That’s another explanation.
I love peanut butter. Love it. Still wouldn’t see it as a “punishment” if I had to have it in my room. I can think about people other than myself.”</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s a punishment and I can think about other people too. However it just seems strange. They don’t ban peanut butter in the local elementary/middle or high schools and there are kids with severe food allergies. So I think either there was a large influx of peanut allergy students or someone with pull made it happen.</p>
<p>I don’t understand why you would have to throw away food like granola bars that are sealed. I would think there would only be danger if the packaging was open, otherwise the person wouldn’t be able to go in a grocery store.</p>