Page 50 - Anaphylaxis in Schools & Other Settings, 3rd Edition Revised

Food Lists
Many schools provide a list of ‘safe foods’ to all families to help them comply with a ‘no peanut or tree nut’ request. While this is well-intended, schools and food-allergic consumers are encouraged to use them as a guideline only. Many of these lists could be inaccurate or outdated.
Parents of children with food allergy should teach them to always read food ingredient labels and not to accept or share foods which the parents have not approved, even in so-called ‘peanut-free’ schools. It is unrealistic to expect others who are not affected by food allergies to understand the details required to properly read a food label. Some people may assume that a product is okay if there is no ‘may contain’ warning (which is voluntarily put on by manufacturers).
References:
1. Ben-Shoshan M, Kagan RS, Alizadehfar R, Joseph L, Turnbull E, St. Pierre Y, Clarke A. Is the Prevalence of Peanut Allergy Increasing? A Five-year Follow-up Study on the Prevalence of Peanut Allergy in Montreal School Children Aged 5 to 9 Years, Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 2008;121(2): S97.
2. Ben-Shoshan M, Harrington DW, Soller L et al. A population-based study on peanut, tree nut, fish, shellfish, and sesame allergy prevalence in Canada. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 2010;125:1327-35.
3. Sampson HA. Update on Food Allergy (Review). Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 2004;113:805-19.
4. Sampson HA, Mendelson LM, Rosen JP. Fatal and near-fatal anaphylactic reactions to foods in children and adolescents. New England Journal of Medicine 1992;327:380-4.
5. Bock SA et al. Further fatalities caused by anaphylactic reactions to food, 2001-2006. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 2007;Letter to the Editor 119(4):1016-1018.
6. Vander Leek TK, Liu AH, Stefanski K, Blacker B, Bock SA. The natural history of peanut allergy in young children and its association with serum peanut-specific IgE. Journal of Pediatrics 2000;137:749-755.
7. Simonte SJ, Songhui Ma, Mofidi S, Sicherer SH. Relevance of casual contact with peanut butter in children with peanut allergy. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 2003;112:180-2.
8. Vadas P, Perelman B. Presence of undeclared peanut protein in chocolate bars imported from Europe. Journal of Food Protection 2003, Vol. 66, No. 10, pp. 1932-1934.
9. Perry T, Conover-Walker MK, Pomés A, Chapman M, Wood RA. Distribution of peanut allergen in the environment. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 2004;113:973-6.
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Anaphylaxis in Schools & Other Settings
© 2005-2016 Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
Appendix G