Help Reduce Food Allergens in the Classroom(s)

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Speak with your child’s teacher(s) about the role of food in the classroom.  Determine whether strategies can be implemented to help avoid exposure to food allergens and the risk of your child having an allergic reaction. Such strategies may include

  • Having a “no food sharing” or “no food trading” rule.
  • Encouraging hand washing after food handling and eating. Liquid soap, bar soap, and sanitizing wipes effectively clean hands of potential allergens, but antibacterial sanitizing gels do not.[1]
  • Washing surfaces after food is eaten or used. Commercial wipes and spray cleaners are most effective at removing peanut protein from tables and other surfaces.[1]
  • Using nonfood items for classroom projects, academic rewards, and classroom celebrations.
  • Encouraging packaged food items with ingredient labels, as opposed to home-baked goods.
  • Avoiding modeling clay, paper mâché, crayons, soaps, and other materials that may contain allergens.
  • Keeping “safe snacks” in the classroom for unplanned events, along with safe, nonperishable meals in case lunch is compromised or in the event of a shelter-in-place emergency or evacuation to another location.
  • Providing the classroom teacher with safe snacks for the entire class so that your child can eat what everyone else does.
  • Having students store their lunches in a specific location.
  • Allowing you to become a “classroom parent” so that you can have advance notice of planned activities that might involve food. Some classroom parents are chosen over the summer by the local PTA. If you cannot be a classroom parent, ask to be invited to class events such as field trips so that you can help the teacher monitor your child’s exposure to food allergens.
  • Making sure that a copy of your child’s Food Allergy Action Plan is available for substitute teachers.

In order to raise awareness of food allergy and help reduce allergens in the classroom, some schools send a letter home to classroom parents, informing them that there is a child in the class with food allergy. Such a letter can help promote parental support of the food allergy management team in its work.

You also may want to ask the school administration to designate your child’s classroom as one that is not used for outside activities and events (during nonschool hours) that involve food. Taking this precaution will help reduce contamination of desks and other surfaces with food allergens when school is not in session.

[1] Perry TT, Conover-Walker MK, Pomés A, Chapman MD, Wood RA. Distribution of peanut allergen in the environment. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 2004;113:973-6.