Food allergies: Management in school cafeterias

Introduction. - Food allergies have become a public health problem, particularly in school children. Objective. To describe different means of managing the problem of children with food allergies who eat in school. Materials and methods. - A questionnaire concerning food allergies in school was administered by telephone to the personnel in all 205 public elementary schools in the 117 towns in the southern Loire region. Results. - In two-thirds of these towns, the schools being responsible for the children on a full-time basis were faced with this problem. The prevalence of food allergies was found to be 1.9% in children who ate at school. The majority of the children in the small towns managed their allergies by an elimination diet (62%) or by eating in the school cafeteria (78%). On the other hand, in the large cities or where meals were provided by a private catering service, a lunchbox was usually provided. Data on the severity of the children's allergies, the availability of individualized health care plans and access to drug treatment were also obtained. Conclusion. - There is considerable intraregional variation in the management of food allergy in school children as well as the absence of a national legislative model. (C) 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.