Posted by: lakeswimr
« on: October 20, 2013, 09:19:14 PM »I worry that this is a situation where mistakes could happen. What you describe is similar to what i have experienced. In my case what I found was lots of ways foods could get xcontamed. Other parents come in to be at the party. THey don't want or wipe hands unless you ask them to do so. If you are not there BEFORE all of them they are already touching things that will be used at the party and maybe they just ate trail mix or whatever in the car! They might bring in some things that are wrong or are not on the list or are homemade and touch those things and then touch napkins or 'safe' food and xcontam everything. It can be a minefield.
I like inclusion but not at the expense of safety. I like that you are going to be there. I'd be ready with some back up stuff that stays in your bag and comes out in case everything else gets xcontamed.
I'd go over their heads to try to make changes before the next event. Homemade isn't going to be safe and you don't want to negotiate that with them.
There are at least 2-3 parties in recent years where things got served accidentally and children had serious reactions. One child was on life support for days. His heart stopped beating. Thankfully he lived. Even though his mother checked all food ahead of time an allergen got accidentally served. There were other cases like that. When people who don't understand food allergies are present and passing out and handling food at food events it increases risk. If you can't be there in the future at one of these I would not mess around with inclusion and worrying about eating the same food because I woudln't trust them to not accidentally make a mistake (I make mistakes sometimes so I think the chances of someone who doesn't know about food allergies to make an occasional mistake is VERY high). I'd just send all my child's food. If you can always be there, great.
I'd get there early, ask others to wash hands, label read and have zip locs or other containers to quickly open unopened bags and pour food for MY child into ahead of them touching everything. Once the unsafe food comes out anything and everything can get xcolntamed. And once children start reaching into like bowls everything can get xcontamed if their hands are not clean from breakfast, snack, lunch.
I like inclusion but not at the expense of safety. I like that you are going to be there. I'd be ready with some back up stuff that stays in your bag and comes out in case everything else gets xcontamed.
I'd go over their heads to try to make changes before the next event. Homemade isn't going to be safe and you don't want to negotiate that with them.
There are at least 2-3 parties in recent years where things got served accidentally and children had serious reactions. One child was on life support for days. His heart stopped beating. Thankfully he lived. Even though his mother checked all food ahead of time an allergen got accidentally served. There were other cases like that. When people who don't understand food allergies are present and passing out and handling food at food events it increases risk. If you can't be there in the future at one of these I would not mess around with inclusion and worrying about eating the same food because I woudln't trust them to not accidentally make a mistake (I make mistakes sometimes so I think the chances of someone who doesn't know about food allergies to make an occasional mistake is VERY high). I'd just send all my child's food. If you can always be there, great.
I'd get there early, ask others to wash hands, label read and have zip locs or other containers to quickly open unopened bags and pour food for MY child into ahead of them touching everything. Once the unsafe food comes out anything and everything can get xcolntamed. And once children start reaching into like bowls everything can get xcontamed if their hands are not clean from breakfast, snack, lunch.