Allergens and food safety at school - What's in your child's lunch? — recall 52235

Reported risk: Serious allergic reactions to food often happen without warning and can quickly become life threatening for some children. As many as 1.2 million Canadians have food allergies and this number may be increasing, especially among children. Up to six per cent of children are estimated to have food allergies. The symptoms of allergic reactions can range from mild skin irritations and hives to breathing difficulties and loss of consciousness. Symptoms can also develop at different rates, sometimes getting worse very quickly. The most dangerous symptoms include breathing difficulties or a drop in blood pressure with shock, which may result in loss of consciousness, or even death. Although many foods can cause allergic reactions, most allergic reactions in Canada are caused by peanuts , tree nuts , sesame seeds , soy , seafood (such as fish, crustaceans and shellfish), wheat , eggs , milk , sulphites and mustard . These ten items are known as "priority allergens". To date, there is no cure for food allergies. Avoiding the allergen is the only effective way to prevent allergic reactions. This is why it is important that allergic children not be exposed to allergens that regularly cause extreme and sometimes fatal reactions. For this reason, many elementary schools do not allow certain foods in student lunches.