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Just The Aunt
Supporter
Username: Auntof13
Post Number: 5430
Registered: 1-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 6:43 am: | 
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Give me a break! This latest ban isn't even about allergies!
BOSTON (June 21) - When it comes to food, Boston is best known for baked beans and clam chowder. But this week, state legislators have engaged in robust debate on Marshmallow Fluff -- a locally made, sugary spread.
State Sen. Jarrett Barrios started the tempest in a lunch box when he learned that his son's Cambridge grammar school cafeteria offered Fluff-and-peanut butter sandwiches daily.
In a nation where child obesity rates have more than doubled in the past 25 years, Barrios fretted that was not a healthy option. On Monday he proposed a law that would allow schools to serve the "Fluffernutters" only once a week.
"The key was to start a discussion of what is nutritious," said Colin Durrant, Barrios' director of public policy.
Fluff aficionados defended the sweet spread, which locals also lather on ice cream and into hot chocolate, and is made by local company, Durkee-Mower Inc. of Lynn, Massachusetts. A two-tablespoon serving of fluff, which is made from corn syrup, sugar and egg whites, has about 60 calories.
State Rep. Kathi Anne Reinstein on Tuesday introduced a bill that would make the Fluffernutter the state sandwich. Barrios signed on as a co-sponsor of that bill, saying that he liked Fluff himself but did not want kids eating it every day for lunch.
Don Durkee, the 80-year-old president of Durkee-Mower, said Fluff didn't warrant so much legislative attention.
"It should be up to the consumers and the parents to determine what is fed to their children," Durkee said. "There's probably more serious things to be concerned about."
06/21/06 12:07 ET |
Bob K
Supporter
Username: Bobk
Post Number: 11901
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 7:56 am: |
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In a thread about the SO pool someone mentions fluffernutter sandwiches, although in connection with peanut allergies. 
I still remember having sticky hands for the rest of the day after eating them as a kid. |
Paper Bag Bandit
Citizen
Username: Glock17
Post Number: 1196
Registered: 7-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 8:12 am: |
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I agree with that legislation. |
Joe
Citizen
Username: Gonets
Post Number: 1251
Registered: 2-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 8:27 am: |
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Rather than supplying kindergarten students with Fluffernutter sandwiches, why don't they see if the kids would prefer candy and cake for lunch instead? |
Lou
Citizen
Username: Flf
Post Number: 192
Registered: 8-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 8:51 am: |
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I'm sorry to say, but marshmallow fluff doesn't really give any nutrition to the kids anyway. They don't need it.
It helps decaying their teeth. Causes hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness. Contributes to obesity. Increases Cholesterol. Can interfere with the absorption of protein and permanent altering the way proteins act in the body. Can contribute to eczema. Diets high in sugar can reduce learning capacity. And while sugar increases in children's diet, there is a linear decrease in the intake of many essential nutrients.
So you want children to have something sweet during the day at school? give them yogurt with honey and nuts, apples, watermelon, or even dairy ice cream can be more nutritious then marshmallows!
But, of course, this is my opinion. |
Paper Bag Bandit
Citizen
Username: Glock17
Post Number: 1197
Registered: 7-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 9:02 am: |
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No one mentioned the diabetes epidemic yet...
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dave23
Citizen
Username: Dave23
Post Number: 1841
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 9:28 am: |
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It's not a ban. They can bring their own if they want. |
Bob K
Supporter
Username: Bobk
Post Number: 11904
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 9:32 am: |
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No arguement that Fluff isn't the most healthy food on the planet. It is just some of us remember it, well, fondly.
With slight thread drift I caught a very small part of an interview on CN8 over the weekend about school food and health. Apparently SOMSD is in the forefront of this? Revenues are actually up according to the show, which offsets the fear of many schools that healthy food wouldn't sell and become a tax burden. |
tom
Citizen
Username: Tom
Post Number: 5143
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 10:06 am: |
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Quote:It should be up to the consumers and the parents to determine what is fed to their children
Um, aren't the "consumers" here a bunch of fourth- and fifth-graders? They should be the ones making the nutrution decisions? Their parents, after all, aren't there.
Kids will frequently opt for stuff that's not good for them. But they should learn something in school, yes? |
Joanne G
Citizen
Username: Joanne
Post Number: 232
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 10:15 am: |
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Two things: 1) if it contains peanut butter, then it IS about potential allergies that are lethal - a kid died at an Australian school camp two years ago from a contaminated knife used in a 'dare' in a contest for his camp team to win some stupid prize-of-the-day because the teacher didn't recognise peanuts butter as a 'real' allergy
2) this particular food wouldn't ever be allowed for sale in an Australian cafeteria/school snack bar - too sugary/not enough 'real food' nutrients.
Sounds like if it's soemthing you'd let your kids eat for lunch, then you make it at home for them to bring - or else eat at home. |
greenetree
Supporter
Username: Greenetree
Post Number: 8173
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 10:21 am: |
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Those silly food police. Children have too many rules. They should be allowed to run in the halls, play on steel-barred jungle-gyms set on concrete and skip gym. Hell, let's appeal to the consumer. Renovate gyms and playgrounds into video arcades.
Stock nothing but pizza, burgers, fries, candy and ice cream in the cafeterias.
If their parents want them to have good nutrition or exercise, let them do it at home.
And just think of the money the towns could save by doing away with crossing guards.
Make traffic flow more efficient; repeal the law that says cars cannot pass a school bus with flashing red lights. If the kids' parents can't teach them how to cross a street safely, oh well.
I say that if they are mature enough to learn to read, they are mature enough to handle the real world. Why wait until they are 18? |
tom
Citizen
Username: Tom
Post Number: 5145
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 11:05 am: |
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Maybe you're right. Put out fresh fruit, but put out chocolate bars too. Let the market decide! The "invisible hand" will surely guide things to the right place. Juice dispensers AND slurpee machines. If the juice dispenser is still full at the end of the day, that's the collective wisdom of the marketplace at work!
The idea of government interference in the marketplace should be anathema everywhere, and the front line in the battle is the second-grader's lunch tray. It was bad enough when they banned smoking in the restrooms for "health" reasons; now sugary snacks? Where will it end?
Parents have to be responsible for their kids' choices. And that doesn't mean relying on teachers or school administrators or even elected bodies to enforce rules of so-called "good nutrition." If they buy into the theory (and it's just a theory) that vitamins, minerals and proteins are somehow important for young children, and they want their children to eat the "right" foods, let them take the time to visit their child's school daily at lunchtime and supervise them properly! |
Paper Bag Bandit
Citizen
Username: Glock17
Post Number: 1199
Registered: 7-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 2:25 pm: |
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not to mention the diabetes epidemic... |
Cynicalgirl
Citizen
Username: Cynicalgirl
Post Number: 2889
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 2:54 pm: |
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The trouble with the healthy offerings in K-12 in our district is that often they're wholly unappetizing. Nasty canned fruit and veg, bad speciments of fresh. Soggy wraps prepared before dawn or the day before. Tired, wilted salad of whitish iceberg lettuce. I'm sure some of this is due to what they're allowed to charge, etc., but I do think it's hard to get children and adults to go for the healthy alternative when it's a poor version of same. My kid seldom buys this stuff (and we bring from home) largely because the food is gross in quality. The only things served that are decent looking and tasting are pasta, pizza etc. And, sweets etc from machines.
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Paper Bag Bandit
Citizen
Username: Glock17
Post Number: 1205
Registered: 7-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 3:00 pm: |
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Um. Cynical the wraps at the HS are made right there in front of you.
but yeah you are right about the rest.
The problem is that we expect these kids to make the right descisions about nutrition, but when something bad happens to them they are ONLY 13, or 6, or 12 etc etc. So which is it? Are they ONLY 13 (too young..they need to be sheltered) or are they old enough to choose food that you can at least call a MEAL instead of two swiss rolls, a slushi, and a large bag of chips. |
Cynicalgirl
Citizen
Username: Cynicalgirl
Post Number: 2890
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 4:03 pm: |
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That's what I get for listening to my kid! Wait, she's at middle school so maybe it's different. I'd seen breakfast (ok), but was doing an informal survey of her and her friends on the offerings at lunch. I know it's not truly possible, but I wish the caf food could be more like what many colleges have now -- truly decent salad offerings, etc. with attractive ingredients. Till then, it's pack, pack, pack. |
LilLB
Citizen
Username: Lillb
Post Number: 1844
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 4:37 pm: |
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Let them eat cake!
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Cerebrus Maximus
Citizen
Username: Xtralargebrain
Post Number: 60
Registered: 4-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 9:34 pm: |
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Umm, nobody mentioned the epidemic of parents that are too weak and useless to discipline their children to avoid certain foods and nobody mentioned the epidemic of parents that are promoting the mythical "food and peanut allergies". People, please get real or get sterilized. |
Scully
Citizen
Username: Scully
Post Number: 672
Registered: 8-2005
| | Posted on Friday, June 23, 2006 - 4:21 am: |
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'the epidemic of parents that are promoting the mythical "food and peanut allergies".'
How 'mythical' is an allergy that kills? Read Joanne's post above. |
Cerebrus Maximus
Citizen
Username: Xtralargebrain
Post Number: 61
Registered: 4-2006
| | Posted on Friday, June 23, 2006 - 6:38 am: |
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Food allergies and the peanut allergy in particular are largely a cry for help. However, have you seen the recent interview of the pathological founder of "allergykids.com"? For those of you who are not aware of allergykids.com, its an online store where you can now purchase brightly colored warning tags that you can attach to your child so that the world can know that you THINK your child may be possibly remotely sensitive to a food group. Basically, its another outlet for parents with Munchausens syndrome to indulge themselves over an imagined food sensitivity thereby diluting the attention that needs to be given to legitimate cases of food allergies that could result in anaphylactic shock.
The insightful interviewer asked the founder "dont you find it strange that peanut allergies are suddenly being reported when historically there have never been any reports? What is the explanation for this? " The founder then provided some useless non-sequitur response about the need for research blah-blah and the interview ended.
People, stop wasting our time with this attention seeking non-sense.
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Paper Bag Bandit
Citizen
Username: Glock17
Post Number: 1224
Registered: 7-2005
| | Posted on Friday, June 23, 2006 - 8:36 am: |
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Stop wasting my time with your posts. |
Cerebrus Maximus
Citizen
Username: Xtralargebrain
Post Number: 62
Registered: 4-2006
| | Posted on Friday, June 23, 2006 - 8:50 am: |
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Stop discouraging me from calling attention to your psychological flaws. |
Paper Bag Bandit
Citizen
Username: Glock17
Post Number: 1228
Registered: 7-2005
| | Posted on Friday, June 23, 2006 - 10:03 am: |
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What psychological flaws do I have?
Is it "Cerebrus Maximus vs. The Rest of the World"?
Oh and once again, I must point out that there is no link between brain size and intelligence. |
Joanne G
Citizen
Username: Joanne
Post Number: 237
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Friday, June 23, 2006 - 11:20 am: |
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http://www.medeserv.com.au/ascia/mediareleases/peanut_anaph_inquiry.htm
9 September 2005
NSW CORONIAL INQUIRY FINDINGS - DEATH FROM PEANUT ANAPHYLAXIS
Magistrate Milledge stated "I find that Hamidur Rahman died on 20 March 2002 at Leeton, New South Wales. The cause of death is 'Anaphylactic shock' suffered after eating peanut butter on a school excursion."
In total seventeen recommendations were made, directed to the Minister for Education and Training, the Minister for Community Services, the Minister for Health and the Attorney General. (end quote)
This is from a national website on clinical immunology and allergy. You will note that further into the coronial report it is recorded that the allergy was properly diagnosed according to strictest medical definitions of allergy (i.e. equal status to bee stings or equally lethal chemical allergies), that the parents knew the appropriate emergency procedures and had trained everyone who dealt with the child INCLUDING school staff in what those procedures were, and that the child never left home without an epi-pen. The school had a policy of only allowing fruit and healthy foods on-site, however as a 'dare' gesture in a contest along the lines of the 'fear factor'/'survivor' team-tests where you must choose a member to eat whatever is placed in front of them with no hesitation or question whatsoever, this child was bullied into eating a morsel of peanut butter.
There followed a series of sad coincidences that prevented appropriate lifesaving measures being used in time and the child died, with the teacher saying 'but it was just a scraping of peanut butter - how could you possibly be allergic enough to die from that?'
To be fair, there is a lot of bandying about of the term 'allergy' when people mean 'intolerance'. Allergy is a reaction severe enough to be life-threatening. I am intolerant of gluten. I am becoming allergic to amny nuts - they make my throat swell so rapidly it stops my ability to breathe. I am allergic to mammal milk and milk products - the caseinate rots all the membranes down my digestive systems and they actually flake off as they burn away. So a lactase-substitute milk will not work for me. But my siblings do not have these problems.
To go back to the original theme of the thread, in Asutralia since the 1970s there has been a strong movement to return to whole foods; fresh fruits and vegetables grown on-site when possible (by the schoolchildren); and fewer sugary and fizzy foods and drinks in our school canteens. This is to help manage canteen budgets better; to improve our children's dental health and physical health (yes, we're aware of our very poor performance in terms of obesity and adult-onset diabetes in children) and to try to help adolescent and early adult mental health which often has links with poor childhood nutrition and lack of exercise. Our national dishes are the meat pie and sauce, and the lamington http://www.aussie-info.com/identity/food/lamington.php
so it seems ridiculous that we are trying to teach healthy food options at school...however no way would we embrace flutternutters as a saleable item at school when you can't even buy a jam (jelly) sandwich any more (haven't been able to for 20 years). |
Bret
Citizen
Username: Cactusleaf
Post Number: 1
Registered: 6-2006
| | Posted on Friday, June 23, 2006 - 2:35 pm: |
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Cerebrus Maximus...
My mother is allergic to peanuts and she is 60 years old. She must be really committed to the lie, right? |
Bret
Citizen
Username: Cactusleaf
Post Number: 2
Registered: 6-2006
| | Posted on Friday, June 23, 2006 - 2:47 pm: |
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And Mr. Paper Bag...
Don't bother arguing with Cerebro. He'll just bust open a Thesauras and drown you in whatever he gleaned from his Psych 101 class. Reality? Who needs it when you can just belittle opposing viewpoints out of existance.
People suffer (and die) from food allergies, but he's content to explain it all away as 'weak-minded'. He's healthy, so why isn't everyone else??? pansies...
You can tell from his name that he honestly believes he is smarter than everyone... which ironically, proves the opposite. |
Cerebrus Maximus
Citizen
Username: Xtralargebrain
Post Number: 63
Registered: 4-2006
| | Posted on Friday, June 23, 2006 - 10:38 pm: |
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Bret,
Its understood that yes, people have severe allergic reactions and die from food allergies. But I am way past that and sadly you dont get it.
What you tragically fail to recognize is the startling comparison of historical allergy statistics versus the recent exponential increase in occurences. That increase cannot be explained by science and that is what you are too dim to get. That increase is a manifestation of Munchausens-by-proxy syndrome. You desperately need to research this before your thoughts on the matter become any further contaminated. By eliminating the fabricated cases of allergies (parents often water the fabrication down a bit by claiming a potential peanut "sensitivity") we can redirect attention to the people that really do need help.
There are too many women in this town claiming that their children have peanut allergies. No matter who you talk to, their kids have it. Its just so ridiculous to not question these claims in the context of the statistical data that is out there. |
Joanne G
Citizen
Username: Joanne
Post Number: 246
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Friday, June 23, 2006 - 10:53 pm: |
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I guess my question is, what would you accept as appropriate and objective symptoms on (for example) peanut allergy, given that allergy equates to life-threatening? what test would you have school authorities subject claimant children to, to prove the allergy?
if we knew, that may help establish the incidence of the allergy. our laws (yours may be different) would require that even one potential student at a school would require a canteen to provide a safe-food environment for that potential customer. this then limits the cost to the taxpayer and to the school of liability if a customer sustains injury etc... |
Cerebrus Maximus
Citizen
Username: Xtralargebrain
Post Number: 64
Registered: 4-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, June 24, 2006 - 10:01 am: |
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Joanne,
Thank you for your posting on this subject because it reinforces what I have been saying from day one i.e. there are legitimate life threatening and often deadly occurences of food allergies...no question about it.
Now if someone could just explain the TWENTYFOLD increase in the number of CLAIMS and ALLEGATIONS of peanut allergies that mothers have been making about their children in just the past 5 years alone...
Thats the problem so many scientific intellectuals are having. Postings from clueless individuals informing us that there was a peanut allergy in his/her own family arent really getting to the heart of the matter.
So if anybody could offer offer up some form of an explanation to this puzzling statistical question that would be helpful for all allergy sufferers. Problem is..... nobody other than psychiatric professionals seem to have come up with an explanation and THAT is the point.
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Joanne G
Citizen
Username: Joanne
Post Number: 247
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, June 24, 2006 - 10:09 am: |
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For some people it's better access to information, better testing and better diagnosis that means there are now more recognised cases (and many are passed on genetically, so that would affect the stats too) - however you didn't answer my question, which was what you would accept as reliable objective evidence of 'fair dinkum' (sorry - I am Australian, and can think of no other way to put it!) claims of allergy as opposed to suspicions of nervous parents so that schools etc could act and plan accordingly. |
susan1014
Supporter
Username: Susan1014
Post Number: 1616
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, June 24, 2006 - 10:47 am: |
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Cerebrus,
Just because you don't understand it doesn't necessarily mean it isn't true. Have you ever seen someone in analphylatic shock? I have, and am personally d__n glad that this is not an issue with my child.
I don't have the time to give you a fully documented medical literature search, but if you go to a site like Medscape or Medline, there is plenty of evidence that peanut sensitivity is a growing problem, for reasons unknown.
Just because we don't know the answer doesn't mean that you have to attack the characters of parents trying to do the best for their children (even if some of them are wrong, they aren't all wrong).
The scientists are researching this actively, and hopefully will figure out what is responsible for this trend. Some initial hypotheses are out there, but my 5 minute search suggests that the research is not yet definitive (and goes way beyond psychiatric professionals -- don't talk science unless you do your research).
I'm for reasonable care with peanuts rather than out-and-out bans, but I'm very much against the sort of outbreak of uninformed insensitivity and belittlement that you are expressing. |
Cerebrus Maximus
Citizen
Username: Xtralargebrain
Post Number: 65
Registered: 4-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, June 24, 2006 - 11:57 am: |
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Joanne,
Currently, there is no disincentive for the Munchausens parents in this town from indulging themselves. They expect the school system to accept their claims and all too often, the school system does accept them and makes some form of accomodation. There is no cost involved.
Unfortunately, the only way to sort out the real cases of allergies versus parents projecting the allergy is to establish separate private schools for children with alleged allergies. Nobody other than the parents (in consultation with an immunological professional) can know what is best for their children so let them gather the information and then they can decide if they want to pay the cost of providing additional safeguards. That system has the best chance of reliably filtering out the Munchausen cases.
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susan1014
Supporter
Username: Susan1014
Post Number: 1618
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, June 24, 2006 - 12:09 pm: |
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Cerebus has entered the world of fantasy (and slander, with accusations of Munchausen-by-Proxy)...our schools have accessability mandates, and are required to school children appropriately or pay the tuition to schools that can.
I'd far rather have a peanut-free table in the cafeteria than have to pay tax dollars to send kids to peanut-free schools! |
Paper Bag Bandit
Citizen
Username: Glock17
Post Number: 1250
Registered: 7-2005
| | Posted on Saturday, June 24, 2006 - 1:07 pm: |
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I wouldn't that's stupid. If someone can die just from being touched or breathed on by someone else. They CAN'T be in a normal school. Susan, what if someone had a peanut butter as part of their breakfast and sneezed near the peanut-allergic child? I can hear the lawsuits filing up now after his death. |
tjohn
Supporter
Username: Tjohn
Post Number: 4426
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, June 24, 2006 - 1:16 pm: |
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Do our school nurses have epipens and training on when to use one? |
Paper Bag Bandit
Citizen
Username: Glock17
Post Number: 1254
Registered: 7-2005
| | Posted on Saturday, June 24, 2006 - 1:35 pm: |
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I thought state law in NJ and NY was that only the person themselves or their parent could administer epipens. |
Cerebrus Maximus
Citizen
Username: Xtralargebrain
Post Number: 66
Registered: 4-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, June 24, 2006 - 1:53 pm: |
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Susan,
You referred to initial hypotheses in an earlier post. Could you at least share those with us? Even if there is no concrete answer could you tell us minimally what the scientific community is speculating as to the cause of the twentyfold increase in reported food allergies? |
tom
Citizen
Username: Tom
Post Number: 5155
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, June 24, 2006 - 2:39 pm: |
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When I was I kid I never heard of peanut or any kind of serious food allergies at all.
That said, whether or not these allergies are psychosomatic the person with the allergy will be just as dead. |
wbwallflower
Citizen
Username: Wbwallflower
Post Number: 261
Registered: 7-2005
| | Posted on Saturday, June 24, 2006 - 4:10 pm: |
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paper- you have to be trained in administering the epipen to a child. the school nurse keeps it in her office during the schoolday and someone trained must accompany the child on a fieldtrip in case something should happen. that's how it is in the school i work at anyway. |
Joanne G
Citizen
Username: Joanne
Post Number: 249
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, June 24, 2006 - 5:00 pm: |
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From a news article reported on Medline Plus: PEANUT ALLERGIES ON THE WANE, dropping in this study from a reported 50% in the 1980s to 14%.
"HealthDay
By Diana Kohnle
Monday, June 19, 2006
MONDAY, June 19 (HealthDay News) -- The number of people with peanut allergy unwittingly eating peanut-laced products is going down, but more public education is still needed.
So concluded a team of researchers at McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, who conducted a study to determine if peanut-allergy reactions had been reduced.
Reporting their findings online in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the researchers studied 252 Canadian children, ages 4-17, with diagnosed peanut allergies. The subjects answered a series of survey questions, including questions about any recent incidences of accidental peanut ingestion.
Of the 252 children studied, 29 said they had accidentally consumed peanuts a total of 35 times over 244 patient years. That translates to a little more than a 14 percent incidence rate per year -- a big drop from the 50 percent incidence rate published in the same journal in 1989, and a 55 percent rate found in a British study published in 2005.
Twelve of the 35 allergic reactions occurred when a food was clearly marked as containing peanuts, while 22 occurred when foods with undetected peanuts were consumed. Since Canada has very strict regulations on food labels and contents, and most schools are "peanut-free," the researchers were not surprised to learn that only one reaction happened while the child was at school.
Children and parents need better education on preventing these reactions by learning how to look for peanut content in foods, the researchers concluded. They also recommended stricter regulations on food manufacturers and food labeling." etc (I only copied the first few paragraphs)} |
susan1014
Supporter
Username: Susan1014
Post Number: 1620
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, June 24, 2006 - 9:54 pm: |
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Cerebus, maybe in a few days, but I'm on deadline this weekend, and don't have time to do unpaid research!
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