AN EXPLANATION OF HOW KSS HANDLES PEANUT ALLERGIES.
At Keystone Science School we take the well-being of our campers and students very seriously. We understand that children have a wide variety of needs which includes allergies and any dietary restrictions. At KSS we have noticed an increase in food allergies among the campers and students who participate in our programs.
Just as it is important to differentiate our teaching techniques to meet the many learning styles we also tailor our food preparation to meet the many dietary restrictions our students face.
Please click this link for a more detailed description of how we handle a variety of dietary restrictions. Within this blog post, we would like to highlight our handling of one popular food item which is an increasing allergen, peanuts.
Peanuts are a very common food allergy among our participants. In an effort to manage these allergies we deemed our campus a peanut free campus a few years back. We continued to research and learn about peanut allergies from research, our participants and parents.
We learned that “peanut free” is a lofty claim so we have since renamed out campus a “peanut aware” campus because we can’t always control what our students and campers bring to campus when they bring their own lunch as a part of our day camp, first day of a typical school program, or any other program when campers bring their own food and snacks. So what does “peanut aware” really mean.
Peanut aware means that Keystone Science School does not purchase, provide or allow any products which contain peanuts and have been processed within a factory which has processed nuts. This means that all food coming from the Rives Dining Hall is peanut free. We pay special attention to ingredients, brands of the food and ingredients we serve, and where food and ingredients have been processed and prepared.
While this does create a challenge, we work hard to provide reasonable substitutes for peanuts and many of our favorite backcountry snacks, peanut butter. Rather than serving peanut butter, we serve a simple substitute, soy nut butter.
If you have any questions about how we handle dietary restrictions or our food preparation, please feel free to contact Keystone Science School at (970)468-2098 or Support@KeystoneScienceSchool.org
