Nut free classmates

[DevaMajka]

This is probably a dumb question, but ds has a/some classmates with nut/peanut alleries. Is is enough to just avoid blatant nut products (ie: pb&j, and foods with nuts in ingredient list)? Are packaged products that do not specifically say "nut free" ok for ds to have in his lunch (ie: crackers without nuts listed in the ingredients)? I assume they are ok, and what most parents will send. I'm mainly wondering if those products pose a health risk to nut allergic kids.

They don't share food ever (and she seems strict about that), so the allergic kids won't ever eat what ds has.

[Drummer's Wife]

I think it depends on the allergic child - do they have a life-threatening allergy? I'd ask the teacher. My kid who is in a nut-free class, has a classmate who is allergic, but it's not to the point where they worry about residue or cross-contamination. So, I can send him in granola bars (nut-free, of course) but not things like PB&J. I'd assume the packaged food is okay, but would ask just in case.

[DevaMajka]

I subbed to this, but it didn't tell me I had a response. Oh well.

I will definitely ask- that's a good idea. I send very few packaged things (actually, none so far), but we do make pb&j sandwiches, and I can see the possibility of using the same plate to prepare ds's sandwich for lunch. Obviously, we wouldn't do it on purpose, but I'd like to know just how vigilant we need to be, yk?