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URGENT MESSAGE Dear Parents: We have children in our school who have a severe peanut allergy.  We are making every effort to ensure that their safety and health are not jeopardized.  As a staff, we are putting in place effective strategies to address the children's needs in the classroom, on field trips and in the lunchroom.  Through a cooperative effort we will be able to ensure a safe learning environment for our students with peanut allergies by reducing the amount of peanut content food, washing our hands and lips after eating peanut butter or products with peanuts. To help you gain a better understanding about what this means to families with peanut allergies and to families who will be in the same environment as students with peanut allergies, we would like to share some information about cross contamination. We ask that parents read this important information. If you have any questions, please feel free to call our school health aide, Mrs. Worsfold. What is cross-contamination? Cross-contamination occurs when a safe food comes in contact with a food allergen such as peanut, nuts, seafood or milk. For those with severe food allergies, eating even the slightest trace of an allergic food can cause a potentially life threatening or fatal reaction. Although not everyone with a food allergy is this sensitive, it is still important to be very careful and follow precautions.  Exposure can occur by several means: ·        Someone ate a peanut product ·       They unintentionally ate a food that was not supposed to contain peanuts but had been contaminated with peanuts. This could occur through an unintended ingredient or from being in contact with peanuts during preparation, storage or serving. ·       They touched something with peanut traces and then put their hands in their mouth or touched their eyes. The most common instance of direct contact is when someone eats a peanut product and then touches a chair or table, leaving a smear or even a trace of peanut. The next person to use that table or chair could be severely allergic to peanuts, and that residue, if ingested, could be enough to cause a reaction. If homemade goods are allowed in class, thoroughly clean all baking pans and utensils to remove any traces of peanuts or nuts if previously used in your last baking. When cutting up squares start with a clean plate and clean the knife (not just wiped). When packaging them, keep them from touching peanut products until they are used.                   Adapted from -  http://www.calgaryallergy.ca/Articles/English/peanutfree.html  Thank you for your support and understanding. Sincerely, Mrs. Keene Foods Containing Peanuts or Peanut Oil This is not an exhaustive list, please read all food labels carefully. “Mike-Sells” potato chips (baked in pure peanut oil) Ritz cheese cracker snacks Ritz S’mores cracker snacks Individually wrapped cheese/crackers White cheddar cheese popcorn Caramel popcorn Chex mix Honey Nut Cheerios Cereals with nuts Plain M&Ms Most Keebler cookie products Frosted animal crackers/cookies Pre-made or store bought bakery cookies/muffins/cakes Nestle products (cookies, pre-made slice and bake cookie dough) Most store-bought ice-cream (some vanilla & chocolate o.k., read labels) Sunflower seeds Egg rolls Jellybeans (most) Novelty foods: crackers, cookies i.e. Nemo, Dora, Spiderman, etc. Granola bars Entenmann’s Bakery foods Most chocolates Most individually packed snacks, cookies Dried mixed fruit snacks (usually trace peanuts) Chips Ahoy cookies with frosting fillings Watch for these ingredients: ·       Peanuts ·       Peanut protein ·       Peanut flour ·       Trace of peanut(s) or peanut oil ·       Tree nuts ·       Arachis oil  (oil extracted from peanuts) ·       Mandelonas (peanuts soaked in almond flavoring)

Last Modified: Jan 07, 2010