<p>Food allergy sufferer here as well (sesame, tree nuts).</p>
<p>My D goes to a boarding school that has a student with Celiac (sp) disease (cannot tolerate wheat products). They have no problems accommodating her needs, but this is a small (350 student) boarding school.</p>
<p>As one earlier poster mentioned 2 corporate giants (ARAMARK Sedhexo) run the vast majority of college kitchens. And they run them from standardized recipies with ingredients form a relatively small set of suppliers. You might want to contact the corporate arm of these companies to see if their folks can assist you with providing recipies and ingredient lists from their foods. I'm not sure if they will be willing to help, but it doesn't hurt to ask.</p>
<p>Now if you are lucky enough to send your student to a school with its own food service (mostly privates - publics tend to like the competitive bid process for food service for some reason), I'd talk to the dietician (as opposed to the food service manager) as they are in charge of menu development and are responsible for nutritional standards. The dietician would have the ingredient list (and nutritional info) for everything prepared. And since dieticians are nutrition professionals by nature, they are more likely to be attuned to nutritional needs than a food service manager (responsible for production).</p>
<p>Franklin and Marshall College is particular attuned to food allergies--in fact they are a "no nuts" campus....no products with nuts sold on campus. We have a friend whose son has Celiac disease. Franklin and Marshall was on his "short" list, for many reasons, but one factor was their ability to handle special diets. I believe UPitt also met his criteria and is his 1st choice. Going to schools that have experience with dealing w/ special nutrition/dietary requirements makes things a lot easier than trying to forge it on your own. Good luck.</p>
<p>I have a son with severe milk allergy that reacts to even aerosolized milk proteins (think Doritos or powdered hot chocolate). Also, think of what happens to the greasy fingers from pizza - in all of these situations exposre can end his life in the worst case and send him to the ER in the best case. </p>
<p>We've now been dealing with this for 16 years. Yes, severe food allergy is a disability covered under ADA. </p>
<p>Yes, you should talk to everyone involved. But, no, this does not ensure complete safety. For example, milk protein may or may not be in the dough conditioners that are used (at a trace amount) in most commercial breads. Because they do not all come with complete labels (when the larger package is broken down for smaller kitchens), no one can say what is in the product. </p>
<p>Most school will try to work with you, but, they emphasize that the liability remains yours. </p>
<p>For me, the bigger issue than the dining hall is other students - will the roommate eliminate all medications that have lactose in them (for example, Benadryl and Advair), will the girlfriend give up all diary products so kissing doesn't kill him, will other kids not use products will milk proteins (like lotion), will the labs and the EMTs all have latex free gloves, and so on. Probably not, in all these cases. That's the problem.</p>
<p>The decision should be driven by the distance to the nearest emergency room, people around your child who are willing to use the EpiPen when the contamination occurs (because it will sometime) and a kid who is hyperalert. With these in place and the modifications outlined in the previous paragraph I tink it can work.</p>
<p>Sounds like your son is a celiac? Or at least shares some of the restrictions of one. My husband is a celiac, and while he hasn't lived in dorm for a while ;-) he has to be super careful in how he eats. The cross contamination issue is hard - many folks who don't have a serious food issue don't realize how careful you have to be. As a simple example, we have two toasters - he can buy gluten free bread, but if he were to put it in the regular toaster, his bread might pickup bread crumbs from wheat bread. Which would be bad for him.</p>
<p>To add to all the useful advice here, one more thought - Investigate prepared foods that can be heated. For example my husband is addicted to Thai Kitchen noodles, which are a rice noodle dish that can be made in a microwave. He also has some favorite GF cookies, etc. And then, check out if you can order the food online and have it delivered. For example, Amazon now has an online grocery store, and it sells some of his gluten-free favorites quite a bit cheaper than they are at the store. So he orders 12 packages of noodles at a time, and has food on hand.</p>
<p>Sierra Lin: My son had a life threatening egg allergy which, thankfully, he has since outgrown. He was diagnosed at the age of one and believe me it terrified me to send him to preschool and later to kindergarten. He was taught never to take anything other than whole food from anyone who wasn't me or his dad. Once he could read them he was taught to read lables and then he became a bit more independent. </p>
<p>My point is that we gave him the tools to allow him to manage his allergy from a very young age. It gave him a sense of control and FWIW I suggest that rather than plan on running over to his future college to provide appropriate food to your son, that over the next few years you teach him to make many dishes that he knows are safe. You can send care packages through the mail to make sure he has the correct ingredients but I think it would be important for him to have the independence that would come from managing his own dietary constraints.</p>
<p>I don't mean for that to sound harsh because I 100% understand the instinct that makes you want to keep him close. I just think that limiting him to colleges close to you only because of his allergy may not be the best way to help him as a whole person.</p>
<p>fyi, I know of many kids with dairy allergies who have ended up eating in a college's kosher dining hall. During meals which are designated "meat" there are no ingredients used which contain even trace amounts of dairy or dairy derived products, and the dishes, sinks, sponges, dishrack/dishwashers, pots and utensils are completely separate from those used to prepare dairy meals.</p>
<p>Some college's kosher dining halls only offer dinner a few nights a week; some serve three meals a day where the breakfasts are dairy, lunch and dinner alternate between meat and dairy. Worth exploring for the severely milk allergic.</p>
<p>Thanks for the thoughts of kosher dining halls blossom. We often buy kosher food for just this reason. Vegan is another option. He'll be only only kid in those dining halls who sneaks out to have a ham sandwich in his room, lol.</p>
<p>Those of you with food allergic students in college, especially the multiple food allergies, how did you deal with this question when visiting campuses? There are tons of questions to ask, but then there is the concern that they may deem the student to much of a problem or legal risk to admit in the end. I guess directing the questions to the food service would take care of that problem.</p>
<p>My son is not celiac but has been tested and shows the reactions for allergies to wheat, soy, and also 4-6 other foods at this time. Thankfully we have not had life threatening reactions.</p>
<p>Last summer I was basically told by a head chef at an overnight program that he could not handle the multiple food allergies and during college tours for our 1st we didn't find many foods that the younger could eat. I will keep in mind the colleges mentioned in this thread even in terms of summer programs.</p>
<p>I think different colleges vary in their concern about food allergies and what they offer. I have limited experience in this area, but will share what I do know. My younger daughter takes a class for young people at Hofstra University. We choose to eat lunch in their cafeteria because they have so much to offer those with allergies. My D is allergic to wheat and dairy. Plus their food is really good. :)</p>
<p>My S is at UMiami and their cafeteria is not allergy friendly from what he tells me. We can go to the food court and find a so-so meal for D. Fortunately, they are building an on-campus "Whole U" store where they will offer organic and healthy foods to the students. So maybe some campuses are getting more aware of food choices for their students.</p>
<p>I guess your best bet would be to call or visit the colleges your S is considering and find out what they offer. Even though you have visited schools before, things change and your awareness of what they offer food wise was probably not such a concern before.</p>
<p>Good luck...I guess we will be dealing with this issue when younger D is ready for college. Luckily, we have quite a bit of time.</p>
<p>Sierra Lin, not to minimize the extent of your child's allergy nor to recommend risky behavior in sampling foods, but I have to add a comment as a person with anaphylactic allergies to some foods. I have tested "positive" to many more food substances than I actually react to. For instance, testing says that I am allergic to wheat, but I can eat normal bread products (react to buckwheat, though). Others are quite dangerous for me. I don't know if this might be the case for your son, but every positive test doesn't translate into a real-life reaction.</p>
<p>If you zero in on a few colleges, maybe you could ask if they have an ingredient list for their cafeteria offerings.</p>
<p>I had the skin tests about a bazillion years ago, so it makes sense that there have been improvements. It's good to know that people don't have to go through the careful (or sometimes accidental) trial and error system of yesteryear. Thanks for the info historymom!</p>
<p>Like lkf, my child also has an anaphylactic allergic to peanuts, but also tested positive to soy. While she doesn't eat tofu or drink soy milk, she can eat foods with soy protein in them. If a food has a lot of soy protein, her lips might tingle a bit and her tongue get a bit scratchy, but that is all. She will take a benadryl if the reaction bothers her too much, but rarely does that. She was not aware of the soy allergy until she went to college and started drinking soy lattes and buying soy milk for her cereal. For some reason the soups at Panera Bread also have soy proteins and a few of them give her a mild reaction, but not enough to stop eating them. According to her allergist, she will not have an anaphylactic reaction to soy, so just to watch what she eats.</p>
<p>Here in Minnesota we have a couple of chains of storefront food preparation centers: example Let's Dish and Sociale Gourmet. I was speaking once with the woman who owned our local one and she said that a college student was one of her best customers. The girl with many food allergies would come in once a week and prepare food. The college let her keep in in a dorm freezer and she would pop it in the dorm oven. Great food made just the way she needed it.</p>
<p>lkf725, I know you have food allergies yourself, but nevertheless, your comment "Not to be harsh, but people with a "food disability" need to learn how to get along in the real world" is a little bit of an oversimplification. My son is allergic to soy and peanuts. He has not yet had an anaphylactic reaction (although his reactions are pretty severe) but his soy allergy is quite serious. He keeps an epi-pen with him at all times, but soy has become so ubiquitous in our food supply that it is nearly impossible to avoid. His only safe place to eat is in our home -- but realistically, he has to leave here someday. College should be a place where he can go get a bite to eat without risking death. He is well educated about his allergy and does not expect undue accommodations, but the problem is that kitchen staff often do not understand the many forms of food products that contain soy, such as "vegetable oil" and "natural flavoring". Because of this, he is afraid to eat anywhere except in my own kitchen. This makes his "real world" quite limited, unfortunately.</p>
<p>I truly appreciate everyone's perspectives on the college side of the discussion and the food allergy side. At this point in time DS's allergies cause him to be sick to his stomach and sometimes other reactions. In the beginning his daily reactions sent us for scratch tests which identified the wheat and soy problems. A change in diet cleared all his problems up. Later additional reactions appeared leading to blood testing. I went through alot of recipes and through a year the tests rang true even when I fed him things that he didn't know the ingredients. Sadly I think he got his problems from me since I have food allergies, though I think my knowledge helped lead to the diagnosis. DS would cheerfully return to eating normally if he didn't get sick.</p>
<p>Many foods have soy proteins (some impure soy oils too) and soy lecithin which at this point in time he avoids as well. The allergist is going with total avoidance to give him a better chance of outgrowing his food allergies. He is to be retested in a year possibly via challenge tests.</p>
<p>Sounds like many colleges will provide either dining options and/or allow dorm freezers or have small kitchens. It is giving me lots of ideas to keep in mind. </p>
<p>I know this is a college thread, but some great tasting prepackaged gluten free/allergy free products we have found are Against the Grain Gourmet breads, Namaste mixes, and some kinnikinnick products (pizza crusts are only safe one for us).</p>
<p>It gives me confidence that so many of you have successfully launched your food allergy children into college and the world.</p>
<p>That is really difficult when the offensive product is "hiding" in various foods. I totally sympathize. (Even when I do check ingredients, I also have to see if the product was made in a factory that also manufactured nut products! Sometimes one batch is okay and another is bad...you just can't tell). I guess the best option is to get released from the food plan and have a suite or apartment with a kitchen. It's really the only way to be 100% certain.</p>
<p>I have noticed that some products will say "made in a plant that manufactures nut products" on the packaging. Also, the prepared foods section of my grocery store has little signs by every item that indicates "contains soy/dairy/wheat/etc". The store also has a gluten-free slicer in the deli department. As I mentioned before, many restaurants have ingredient books. It is possible to help us food-allergic people...I guess you just have to find a college willing to do so.</p>
<p>Orchid_2010 - I am sorry to hear that yours has severe reactions to soy. Your post rang true to our lives at home. That we were able to take our oldest on the college tours was a huge accomplishment. </p>
<p>How do you handle the college thing via commuting?</p>
<p>As a college student with a food allergy (mild/moderate anaphylactic response to milk - trace amounts cause digestive issues), the experience of cooking for myself has been far from isolating. When I was on the meal plan I often had to deal with feeling unwell because I had difficulty determining what foods were safe for me to eat, and that caused me to isolate myself from many activities I might have otherwise been involved in. This year I have taken over cooking for myself, and I've had more energy and been far more involved in all aspects of my life. </p>
<p>Unfortunately a lot of college bonding does occur over food, so students that miss that interaction during daily meals should make an effort to eat with other students whenever possible. That could mean packing a lunch or snacks to eat while everyone else grabs whatever is available.</p>
<p>On weekend evenings, my friends come and cook with me far more often than we used to go out to eat. It's cheaper than eating out, and they are enjoying learning how to cook. It takes a little work to adapt meals so that the others won't feel like they're missing out on "real food", but overall it is fun. (I've been known to hold "bring your own cheese" homemade pizza parties that have been a big hit.)</p>
<p>Ctheflute
Great that you have come up with some creative and fun ways to combine safe eating and friends. Could I PM or email you privately with some questions about CASE?</p>