Lunch Box Food Police Ban Fruit

The food police are at it again with parents being told they can’t even pack the most basic of fresh foods in their kids school lunches.

Some schools are advising parents that fruits such as watermelon, bananas and strawberries should be banned, due to the increase of extreme food allergies.

Many parents are complaining that packing lunch is becoming a nightmare given the growing list of verboten food.

Point Cook P-9 College has advised parents to avoid packing bananas, watermelon, soy, wheat, eggs, dairy, and nuts in lunches due to a number of students having minor allergies and life-threatening anaphylaxis.

While Principal Frank Vetere said they didn’t have explicit bans on any food, the school had contacted families whose children had classmates with allergies.

“There seems to be a growing number of students with allergies, and we try to manage it the best we can with proactive measures. We have 20 students with allergies and they are all different.”

Lunch Box Fruit Ban

Due to fears of obesity, many schools are in the process of phasing out ‘unhealthy’ foods such as lollies, chocolate, sweets, pastries, cakes, chips, fried foods and muesli bars. And to add to the list some fruits have fallen prey to like strawberries, grapes and even spinach.

Katie Allen, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute Professor, said that of all the rising rates of food allergies and intolerances around the world, fruit was one of the rarer ones.

She advised that allergic reactions could only develop from eating the foods, and banning them was not the wisest choice, with the exception of young children in childcare centres or kinder.

“In schools it creates a false sense of security, and you can end up with lunch box Nazis. Instead we say not sharing food is the best public health message to send, for a range of reasons.”

Victorian Principals Association president Gabrielle Leigh said, “It’s quite inhibiting for schools, feeding students on school camps can be tricky and they are having to train teachers in use of EpiPens.”

While the Education Department does not advocate bans at schools, it does recommend a commonsense approach to ensure students are safe with spokesman Simon Craig saying that advice was continually reviewed as research emerged.

“We have a rigorous set of policies and procedures in place to help our schools minimise the risk of anaphylaxis and food allergies and effectively manage any reactions, including individual health management plans for each child who identifies as having a serious allergy,” he said.

Where do you draw the line?

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