No nut-free spreads in York Region schools
“What we’re trying to do is minimize the risk for students.”
LICINIO MIGUELO YORK REGION DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD SPOKESMAN
The York Region District School Board is taking its peanut and treenut ban to another level by asking parents to refrain from sending nutbutter look-alikes to school.
“It’s hard in a busy room with kids having lunch to figure out what’s the real thing and what’s an imitation product,” YRDSB spokesman Licinio Miguelo said. “What we’re trying to do is minimize the risk for students.”
Some nut-butter alternatives look and smell authentic, he said, which can cause anxiety for students with nut allergies and confusion for others about what is safe to bring to school.
York Region has a formal policy banning anaphylactic allergens but since last year it has also been adamant that imitation peanut butter products, typically made of soy, even toasted peas, stay home.
Parents accept the rationale, Miguelo says. Mom Meg Stokes won’t be packing lunches with peanut-imitation products anymore.
According to Stokes, when she did, her 8-year-old daughter was badgered by York Region school staff, even when she brought a copy of the spread’s label.
Stokes said her daughter was upset by the confrontations.
Dr. Paul Keith, president of the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, said he’s never heard of a school board taking this kind of action and that, in the absence of a nationwide policy on how to prevent kids’ exposure to anaphylactic allergens, each school board must make its own decision on how best to keep its children safe. “I think this is an interesting strategy that’s being adopted,” he said. “It will be interesting to see how it plays out.”
The Toronto District School Board does not take such a hard line approach. Its students can eat nutbutter alternatives and peanut butter lookalikes on school property with impunity.
“This is one of those things where we rely on parents’ good judgment, when they’re packing lunch,” TDSB spokesperson Ryan Bird said.
David Griffin of Grimsby, Ont., is the maker of peanut-butter looakalike Peabut Nutter, a spread made of toasted brown peas. Griffin, 52, and his wife, Betty, were motivated to create the product out of frustration over what to pack in their four daughters’ lunches. “We hated having to send a ham sandwich every day,” Griffin said. “Kids want to take peanut butter to school but can’t. We set out to find a better mousetrap.” Peabut Nutter contains no peanuts, tree nuts, soy, gluten or dairy. The vegan, kosher product is lighter in colour than peanut butter and has a rich, savoury flavour.