Food Allergy Friendly PTO

As a PTO president, I really appreciated, and loved, this article showing an Ohio school offering allergy-friendly food at their annual PTO Pancake Breakfast.

The PTO noted that over 175 children in their schools deal with food allergies, and that these children, and their families, are often excluded from food events. They will have a pre-sale for allergy meals and will offer a separate menu and designated food preparation area.

Great idea, Hudson PTO!

I hope you raise tons of money at your Pancake Breakfast and that other schools follow your lead!

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Update Food Allergy Bill

Below is a note I received about Pennsylvania's efforts to make schools safer for food allergic children. Thank you to all of you who wrote letters on behalf of this bill. I hope it continues forward through the PA House Appropriations committee and becomes law providing a model for other states and countries. We need to make schools everywhere safe for all children!


Please forward to your membership and friends who assisted with our efforts on HB 1148.
The bill was unanimously passed by the Education Committee.

Thank you one and all for your support of HB 1148!!

The bill will now move to the PA House Appropriations Committee. As the legislature is now engaged in producing a budget, we will wait for the budget to be passed before we begin our communications with the Appropriations Committee members.

I will communicate with you soon about our next steps to obtain support

Happy Fourth of July!

Bill Dixon
Legislative Aide
PA State Representative Thomas Murt's District Office
(215)674-3755

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Update on Food Allergy Bill in PA

Here's the latest on HB 1148. According to my contact at PA State Representative Thomas Murt's District Office,

"HB 1148 was tabled because several Education Committee members were concerned about the wording on the the bill and it's impact on existing laws. The bill was tabled to allow for further research and clarification. We are working with the Harrisburg legislation unit to resolve the concerns. We may have a vote as soon as July 1."

I just sent a response asking if they needed any help from families who deal with food allergies every day. I believe in the power of the moms and dads who know what kind of help they need when trying to manage their child's food allergies in a school setting.

I'll keep you posted if there are ways we can help.

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School Carnivals, Picnics and Parties, Oh My!

The school carnival is this week. I'm in charge of food this year, because I figured if I organized it, I'd be in the know. Yeah, not so fast. "We must have popcorn", I was told because the smell of the popcorn popping is "so carnival-like". Okay, I rented the machine and got the popcorn. Does artificial butter flavor contain any dairy? "No" says the popcorn company representative. Of course I have no way of knowing what else has been put in the rented machine and no idea how well it's been cleaned. Confidence level on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being totally confident?- a 2. I'll bring safe popcorn.

We're also serving water ice which is basically sugar, high fructose corn syrup and dyes. Our school has started distributing, via e-mail, ingredient lists of foods served to students at these special events. Interesting responses. Some parents who don't need to look at food labels on a regular basis are surprised about what's in some of these foods (ie: long chemical names, high fructose corn syrup, etc.) One mother of a diabetic son asked if carbohydrate and sugar content could be included in the lists going to parents.

I think our school needs to develop a form that captures all food concerns that families have. That information then goes out to all families so they can plan appropriately.

How do your schools handle this? Is it working?

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