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CDC Food Allergy Guidelines for Schools Across USA
Posted By Claire Gagné On 2013/10/30 @ 11:27 am In Food Allergy | No Comments
All schools in the United States now have comprehensive new guidelines to look to when developing policies to manage food allergies. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the “Voluntary Guidelines for Managing Food Allergies in Schools and Early Care and Education Programs” on October 30, 2013.
The document spells out in detail steps that should be taken in schools and early care and education programs to protect food-allergic students. It addresses everything and everyone, from the school board level down to materials used in class projects. Detailed instructions, almost like manuals, are provided for many roles within the school community, such as superintendents, school administrators, school nurses and doctors, teachers, food service staff and bus drivers.
Specific recommendations include:
• designating allergy-friendly seating arrangements for eating times.
• avoiding using foods that students are allergic to in class projects, parties, experiments or as rewards.
• having epinephrine auto-injectors accessible and training staff to use them.
• ensuring field trips are safe for students with allergies.
• not excluding kids from field trips, physical education or recess because of food allergies.
• providing families of students with allergies food service menus in advance.
• encouraging children to wash hands before and after eating.
• avoiding ordering food from restaurants because allergens may not be easily identified.
• training school bus employees on how to respond to food allergy emergencies.
The CDC developed the guidelines in response to the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Management Act (FAAMA ), which was passed in early 2011 as part of the larger Food Safety Modernization Act. It required the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop voluntary guidelines to address the risk of allergy and anaphylaxis in schools.
Creating the guidelines involved lengthy consultation with interested groups, including Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE), the National Association of School Nurses, the Allergy and Asthma Foundation of America and others.
In a news release, FARE called the guidelines “a milestone” for those affected by food allergy, and urged the community to let their school districts know that the guidelines are now available online.
Read or download a copy of the guidelines here .
Article printed from Allergic Living: http://allergicliving.com
URL to article: http://allergicliving.com/2013/10/30/new-food-allergy-guidelines-to-affect-schools-across-u-s/
URLs in this post:
 FAAMA: http://allergicliving.com/index.php/2011/01/12/qa-faama-school-allergy-law/
 here: http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/foodallergies/pdf/13_243135_A_Food_Allergy_Web_508.pdf
 School Allergy Resources Hub: http://allergicliving.com/?p=350
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