Nijija-Ife Waters: Food allergies can be a life-or-death matter.
Students received a granola bar in their breakfast trays that a parent leader says could’ve been a health hazard for students with nut allergies.
Each of the pre-packaged breakfast kits distributed to students on Thursday morning included a Nature Valley granola bar, a snack that’s not on the district’s approved menu because of an allergy-related ban on all nut products in the cafeteria kitchens.
The granola bar’s label warns it “may contain peanuts, almonds or pecan products,” but General Mills explained to school officials that nuts aren’t actually an ingredient in the bars, just a potential by-product from the plant where nuts are also processed.
The district’s food services team recalled and removed any undistributed bars, Michael Pinto, the district’s chief operating officer, wrote in a Thursday evening email. School nurses checked up on all students with known nut allergies and reported no health issues, he added.
(UPDATE: On Friday morning, several more Nature Valley bars were served at L.W. Beecher Museum School. Board of Education President Darnell Goldson said he’s tasked Matthew Wilcox, the chair of the Food Service Task Force, with handling the board’s response to the issue.)
“The health and safety of our students and families are paramount,” Pinto wrote. “We very much regret the error and our Food Service team has redoubled efforts to ensure no similar repeat of this issue occurs.”
At Wednesday night’s board meeting, Nijija-Ife Waters, the City-Wide Parent Team president who has long criticized the district for not taking food allergies seriously, especially after an Engineering & Science University Magnet School student was hospitalized last year, presented Board of Education members with a list of kids who’ve died from eating the wrong thing.
Waters said her fourth-grade son had recently been given eggs in the breakfast tray, even though he’s allergic to them. “Look at him and tell me whether or not you would like to see his face on that list,” she said during public comment. “Because I don’t.”