school food allergies

The current core dilemma of food allergy prevention and control in domestic schools is the actual gap between the 5.8% allergy prevalence rate among school-age children and the fact that less than 20% of primary and secondary schools have complete allergy emergency response capabilities. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, and it is by no means a trivial matter for "children to be pretentious".

Last autumn semester, a public primary school in Guangzhou's Tianhe District had a dangerous incident right after the school started: a third-grade boy secretly ate a peanut cake brought by his deskmate. Within 10 minutes, his throat was swollen and he could not breathe. Fortunately, the school doctor happened to have an epinephrine pen prepared and he was sent to the hospital in time to prevent serious accidents. Afterwards, the parents and the school were quarreling for almost a month. The parents of the allergic children said that the school did not provide allergen warnings, and the school was extremely aggrieved. Who would have thought that their children would change snacks in private? The parent who brought peanut cakes was even more confused: "My child eats it every day and is fine. Who knows that he can't touch it?" ”

Similar conflicts have become more and more common in the past two years. The 2023 survey data from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention has long been revealed: the prevalence of food allergies among school-age children aged 6-12 has reached 5.8%. In conversion, in every ordinary class of 40 people, there is a high probability that there will be 2-3 allergies. Minwa, the most common allergens are milk, eggs, peanuts, nuts, and seafood. For severe IgE-mediated allergic reactions, it only takes 5 minutes from contact with the allergen to shock, and the mortality rate is about 0.65%. It is really not a small problem that can be resolved by an itchy rash in two days.

Among the practitioners in the education circle that I have come into contact with, the attitudes towards this matter are simply two extremes. Most managers from international schools are firm and believe that eight categories of high-risk allergenic ingredients should be banned across campuses. Public schools in Europe and the United States have long implemented this. Even the snacks brought by students must be checked for ingredients in advance. They would rather go to trouble than risk human lives. I visited an international school in Shenzhen before. The cafeteria doesn’t even use eggs, and all snacks are egg-free, milk-free, and nut-free. The school has not had a single serious allergic incident in almost ten years of operation. However, the cost is really high. The price of a lunch is three times that of an ordinary public school, and ordinary families may not be able to afford it.

But the logistics directors of ordinary public schools shook their heads after hearing this point of view. They said this just to stand up and talk without pain in their backs. Last month, I had a meal with the logistics director of a public school in Hangzhou. He complained for almost half an hour: "You try to cook for 1,200 children from different families. If you ban all eggs and milk, half of the dishes will not be cooked. There are parents who come here every day and ask why they don't give their children milk, saying that it delays their children's growth." ”He said that he had previously tried to disclose the allergen information of weekly recipes in the parent group, but some parents still never read it. Their children were allergic to snacks containing mango and developed a rash. In the end, the school paid 2,000 yuan for medical expenses. "We only charge 1,200 yuan for meals per semester. How can we withstand such trouble?" ”

Of course, there are also many schools that are trying to find a middle way, which can reduce risks without going to extremes. My friend’s child is studying in a public primary school in Haidian District, Beijing. Their family committee will distribute the next week’s menu every Friday, with a clear red note on the back that “Tuesday’s lunch contains milk and Thursday’s snack contains cashew nuts.” Parents of children with allergies can bring meals to their children in advance, or they can apply for the school’s allergy-specific meal window ； The school collected all the children's allergy information in advance and entered it into the system. When eating, swiping the card will automatically remind the aunt which dishes should not be served to the child. It also provided four hours of allergy first aid training to all class teachers. Each grade office has two epinephrine pens. In the two years of operation, there has not been a single serious allergic accident, and it has not delayed other children from drinking milk and eating seafood.

In fact, many conflicts are caused by poor cognition. Many parents and even teachers think that allergies are the result of squeamish children. I have heard an even more outrageous thing before: a kindergarten teacher thought that the parents of allergic children were too busy, so he deliberately stuffed half a cookie containing milk into the child. In the end, the child was hospitalized for a week because of allergic asthma, and the teacher was fired and had to pay for medical expenses. Why bother? To put it bluntly, no one can bear the loss of human life.

Most parents of children with allergies have a common habit. When sending their children to school, they always carry an epinephrine pen in their pocket. The first thing they ask after school every day is if they ate anything strange today. Only they know the anxiety. In fact, it’s not that difficult to solve the problem. You don’t have to completely ban allergens and make it inconvenient for everyone. Don’t treat allergies as a trivial matter. It’s just a matter of typing a few more lines to publish the recipes, spending an extra afternoon giving first-aid training to teachers, and asking the children if there is anything they can’t eat.

In the final analysis, when it comes to food allergies on campus, the test is never about cooking skills, but about responsibility.