Donna, DeCosta, physician, support group leader, food allergy mama, author of “A Little Bit Can Hurt: The Shocking Truth about Food Allergies — Why We Should Care,What We Can Do
Donna, here are my two food allergy camp mistakes to avoid:
- Ask the person in charge of the camp food service about ingredients being used and how those ingredients are vetted. My daughter attended an overnight field trip and I was a chaperone. The chef confirmed that there were no tree nut ingredients used in their kitchen or in the products they use. Fortunately, after asking about brand names, we realized that the commercial sized pancake mix he was using did not include the same may contain tree nuts and soy warning as the retail packaging does! After calling the manufacturer, we discovered that yes, a risk existed. Also, he was using name brands for products that were not name brand. For example, he confirmed the serving of Fruit Loops®. There was a Fruit Loop “like” product being served, but it was not Fruit Loops made by Kelloggs.
- Ask if serving staff understand cross contamination regarding kitchen equipment and when serving on food lines. Offer to cover the $22 cost of the SafeServe Allergens Online Course and Assessment. This course can be found on the Food Allergy Research and Education’s Safe FARE website along with other vital food service allergen information. If you’ve ever attended any day or overnight camps, you surely have witnessed the chaos that takes place during meal time!
- Assume there might be staff changes by the time your camp date arrives. The week before camp begins, ask about staff changes and if training or information needs to be shared. I’ve experienced this numerous times with camps and classes! I will train and work with a staff member and then discover they have been promoted or left for another job.
One of the mains keys and points that Donna makes about creating a successful camp experience is not waiting until the last minute – be prepared. Give yourself and the camp time to learn more, ask the right questions and gain food allergy confidence.
One of the hardest things I find about managing both life threatening food allergies and asthma is talking to others. I hate to be the one that might be perceived as demanding, pushing or for asking too much. What I now know, fourteen years later, is that honest, clear information presented with kindness works!..
Sounds like a great post! I know that a cousin of my husband went to a camp and was told a food was safe that was not. She had a reaction that required a trip to the ER, but thankfully she survived it. What happened was that the staff member “assumed” there was no eggs in a brownie because she did not put eggs in the brownie mix. Dangerous stuff! I firmly believe that you need to be “that mom” that triple checks everything that comes into contact with your child when it comes to allergies. You can never be too safe. I will definitely be checking out that post and passing it along! 🙂
I love reading your blog, it’s so informative. In the UK my two children with multiple allergies are going on day camps, where i provide all the food. But coming up in September is a 3 day camp. I’m hoping to go along and cook all my daughters food, a bit extreme, but i can’t think of any other way around this. I would be interested to hear from any others who do overnight camps with multiple food allergies. (We cook all our food from scratch at home)
Hi Paula,
Let me think of who I know that has done over night camps!? Hum, I’ll see if I can ask them to post here! Thank you for chiming in!
I will be sending this to my daughter’s camp as a reminder. I feel fortunate that the director of her camp also has a tree nut allergy, and their policies are excellent, but an “oh, yeah” never hurts.
Eek! Still not comfortable with summer camp. We’re making progress getting back out in the world though, so at least there’s that 🙂 Thanks for pointing us over to a great post!
Hi Caroline,
Thanks for your kind words and for sharing my post with your community. Great points that you’ve added. We had that same problem when the chef changed and we had to communicate with a new person. Lindsey, I know how you feel. Even with extensive preparation, I still get nervous. Deirdre, thanks for sharing with your child’s camp. Paula, my kids go to overnight camp. It takes a while to get the meals straight. A lot of emails and conversations back and forth. I get a list of all the ingredients and then we discuss types of cooking surfaces and meal alternatives. I make a list of safe meals for my sons, their counselors and cross reference it with the chef’s list. Julie, I too believe that we need to be “that mom” that triple checks! Thanks for all of your thoughtful comments. Caroline, it is now time for me to go to sleep! 🙂 Take care and Be SAFE!
This is so helpful and gives me hope that I can one day let my littles go to camp too 🙂 Thanks for sharing this.
Hi Dee,
Have faith. I popped about 20 gray hairs when my son first went to camp and now with my daughter, I’m ready to go!