Are food allergies a disability? Should college food services have to provide alternatives?
The Department of Justice Civil Rights Division announced recently that the Americans with Disabilities Act applies to college students who have food allergies at Lesley University in Massachusetts.
About 2 percent of adults and 4 to 8 percent of kids in the United States suffer from food allergies, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
“In the agreement with DOJ, Lesley is required provide gluten- and allergen-free food options in its dining halls, offer special meal plans for students with allergies, and pay $50,000 in damages to the students who filed the claim in 2009, among other measures.
“The Lesley settlement is terrific,” Marilyn Geller, chief operating officer of the Celiac Disease Foundation, tells The Salt. “It puts all universities on notice that they’re going to have to make these accommodations for students with celiac, gluten sensitivity and other food allergies.”…
“By applying the ADA to food allergies, the DOJ has essentially turned food into an access issue – akin to providing ramps for students in wheelchairs.”
“By not accommodating food allergies, you’re barring students from participating in the university,” says Maria Acebal, a lawyer and spokeswoman for Food Allergy Research & Education, an advocacy group. “If you can’t get safe food, how can you study there?”
First off I am surprised university dining halls weren’t already offering allergy-alternative foods. Now maybe that’s because my only experience with a college dining hall was at the University of Georgia, and it’s a really big school with lots of food options
I did find this on UGA Food Service website:
“Food Sensitivities
Students with food allergies or nutritionally significant medical conditions (diabetes, Celiac disease, Crohn’s disease, anemia, hypertension, hypoglycemia, etc) can receive nutrition advisement through private consultations with the Registered Dietitian. To make an appointment regarding specific nutrition concerns or food allergies, please contact Katherine Ingerson, RD, LD at 706-542-7313 or ingerson@uga.edu….”
“Food Fact Finders
The eight most common food allergens (milk, eggs, wheat, soy, fish, shellfish, peanuts, and tree nuts) are designated in the Food Fact Finders. It is our goal to provide you with information and assistance to manage your food allergies. Every effort is made to instruct our food production staff on the severity of food allergies; however, there is always a risk of contamination. There is also a possibility that manufacturers of the commercial foods we use could change the formulation at any time, without notice. Customers concerned with food allergies need to be aware of this risk. Students with food allergies are encouraged to contact the UGA Food Services Registered Dietitian (706-542-7313) for additional information and/or support.”
It does sound like they want to help the students and work with them but it also sounds like a disclaimer so you don’t sue them if something bad happens.
Elementary schools are so aware of food allergies and so sensitive to them that I guess I didn’t realize that sensitivity decreased as kids got older.
So what do you think: Are food allergies equivalent to a blind person or a person in a wheel chair? Should university dining halls have to offer allergy alternatives for students? Did you or you student ever have an issue with food allergies at a school or college level?
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71 comments Add your comment
jmb
January 10th, 2013
2:24 pm
Young lady, why was she able to get cash on the card then?
Mayhem
January 10th, 2013
2:26 pm
Thank you for clearing that up. I guess I’m still old school, when I used to work for attorneys and the courts….. :)
Techmom
January 10th, 2013
2:32 pm
This is what I found:
Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) The system used in Georgia to pay benefits to individuals who are eligible for Food Stamps or TANF. Individuals receiving assistance are issued an EBT debit card, which is used to withdraw cash benefits and to access their food stamp accounts
So if you receive both benefits, you could get cash (TANF) but the SNAP money would need to be used for food only. It sounds like child support is a different account (the card is called an “EPPI” card as Yound Lady said).
jmb
January 10th, 2013
2:48 pm
Thanks techmom, I just knew she was able to withdraw cash on the card.
Mayhem
January 10th, 2013
2:53 pm
So if you have an EBT card, you can get cash, like at the ATM? Then you can use the cash for whatever you want? Do I have that right???
Mayhem
January 10th, 2013
2:56 pm
My neighbors are on food stamps, which makes me a little angry, since I don’t believe they need it. They both work, no kids at home, but they are getting $250/mo. She makes $9.00/hr, and he makes $10/hr, (both combined is about $39K/yr), but he is paid cash under the table, so there’s no record of him working, and it looks like she is the sole provider.
I wonder if they know about that. They would love it. They could get the cash then go buy all the beer they could drink……I’ll have to let her know she can do that….LOL.
Young Lady
January 10th, 2013
3:11 pm
Mayhem- It’s fine. Being old school is awesome. :) They used to be Child Support Enforcement and I still call them that instead of DCSS. Habit I guess.
Mayhem
January 10th, 2013
3:15 pm
I have a question…my mother and I have argued over this for months now.
The neighbors are on EBT. All the other neighbors know, as we are all very close and hang out a LOT. We all gather at EBT’s house on Sundays to watch football. We all bring food, and we also eat EBT’s food (since us working people all pay for it). It drives my Mom crazy that I eat the food that was paid for with EBT (NO ONE in our family has EVER taken g’ment assistance is her stance). I told her, since I pay for it, why shouldn’t I reap the rewards???
Am I wrong?
jarvis
January 10th, 2013
3:44 pm
If we’d stop saving their lives, these types of issues would just take care of themselves in a generation or two.
Darwin
January 10th, 2013
4:16 pm
@jarvis
Agrees!
MANGLER
January 10th, 2013
4:44 pm
Did these students with food allergies ever eat school food in elementary, middle, or high schools? How did they manage making it all the way to college? The only thing that makes sense in the ADA argument is for those compulsory level schools to offer foods for those with allergies because by law, you have to go to school at those ages. However, college, public or private, is a choice that one makes. No law requires that you go to college. Therefore, since you go by choice and not by mandate, it’s on YOU, the student, to find what works for you. If there is absolutely nothing on the meal plans that you can eat, then the school should be able to refund to you the amount of the meal plan or not charge that part to you in the first place.
homeschooler
January 10th, 2013
6:29 pm
@Mayhem, TANF is cash and can be used for whatever but so few people are on it and it is such a little bit of money it’s hardly worth worrying about.
One can only qualify for TANF is he/she has a child who has at least one absent parent. Single moms and dads can get it but the income limits are very low. Even once approved the state goes after the absent parent for support. A parent and one child gets 235 per month.
Quira
January 10th, 2013
9:13 pm
Good grief! Some questions are so stupid there is just not an adequate answer.
Observer
January 10th, 2013
9:39 pm
@mangler. Totally agree. Unfortunately individual responsibility is something some people can’t fathom.
BessBear
January 11th, 2013
12:24 am
I agree with “it depends”. I have a child with a life-threatening food allergy to dairy. I never even considered that a college might expect his food to be paid for even though he will not be able to eat at the cafeteria. We have experienced many times when a restaurant says something is dairy-free, but if they even touched a piece of cheese for someone elses meal, then touched my child’s plate, he can have a reaction. I have already considered that my child’s college choice will partly depend on him being able to cook his own meals as a freshman.
Chuck Shick – it’s really bad to fake a food allergy just because you don’t like a food. It makes others think food allergies are not real, and after seeing my child suffer an anaphylactic reaction, let me tell you they are real. Would you pretend to be in a wheel chair if you didn’t want to do something?
Mangler – No, my child has not been able to eat school lunches – so yes, the school should refund the meal plan, or not require it.
I’m not expecting every college to make their food completely free of allergens, but I definitely don’t expect to pay for food my child cannot eat. And they should allow my child to life off campus is that is the only way for him to be able to cook his own meals. Nothing unreasonable about that, is there? But if it takes some legal mumble jumble to get a “reasonable accommodation” to get this, then that is what parents might need to do. I just hope schools will be able to make those decisions themselves.
Get Educated
January 11th, 2013
9:11 am
Mangler- In grade school, a lot of kids brown bag it. You aren’t required to pay for it. When I was in college, some weird food preservative was making me sick and I couldn’t figure out what it was in, o I ate nothing but salad. I applied for and got a waver so I could keep my $$ and feed myself in my dorm. Kind of a pain and isolating, but better than the alternative. If the school requires students to pay for their meals, they ought to provide safe, nutritious food.
Look, there are a lot of things out there that we “choose” to buy – cars, electronics, drugs, appliances, etc – that we expect (and demand) that they are safe. Why should schools not also meet basic safety requirements?
HB
January 11th, 2013
11:00 am
I think it’s odd that people with allergies to blueberries and shellfish seem to think that compares to being allergic to the foods listed above. I’m allergic to most fruits, a few of which cause severe reactions, so yes, I have to be careful, but usually that just means occasionally having to skip dessert because I’m allergic to everything offered (or I’m not sure the options are allergen-free). No big deal. Soy, eggs, nuts, gluten, etc are present in so many foods that someone with those allergies can easily find themselves with no safe options offered at many meals. That’s not true for people allergic to blueberries. Someone earlier said students who need gluten-free foods should know to skip pasta and choose corn or rice instead. Of course they should, but the point is schools need to offer corn or rice so they can make that choice. If a meal plan is required, the school should make accomodations and provide safe options. I’d go even further and say if students are required to live in dorms where it’s often really difficult to store and prepare all your meals, then the dining halls should have to provide safe options.
catlady
January 11th, 2013
11:17 am
Perhaps NO STORE should sell anything that is allergenic to someone on the planet? No. Use common sense. We should provide alternatives in “custody” situations (Ie K-12). After that, you are in charge of what you choose.
MANGLER
January 11th, 2013
12:47 pm
I guess I just thought that the concept of a “meal plan” offered at a college was something the student opts for, not required. Set up as a method to reduce the students concern for paying for meals while focusing on more important things by incorporating that cost into the tuition loans. The schools I’ve attended offered plans, but I never took advantage of them or considered them something that I cared to partake in – hence I thought they were optional. If in some cases the school actually requires you to be on a meal plan (I’m not sure how they can require that, but if they do, OK), and the student can show evidence that nothing on that plan is suitable for them be it for nutritional or religious reasons, then the school should wave the required fee. But again, at the college level, I don’t think a law should be in place requiring every possible dietary consideration.
Tiffany
January 11th, 2013
6:51 pm
I am really appalled at the holier than thou attitudes of a lot of you…especially MJG. I am sure you are really a very nice person, MJG, but the way you judge others who use EBT cards is downright shameful. It’s great that you and your husband have jobs and are self sufficient…but a LOT of people are not as secure as you are. There are many people out of work these days, or did you realize? There are a lot of parents who are just trying to feed their kids…and elderly people who desperately need the extra help. There are people who can’t work regular jobs because of medical problems, and others who are fleeing an abusive situation who also are glad to have whatever assistance they can get. I am so tired of you treating these people like criminals! A little compassion from you and less judging would go an extremely long way in making this world a better place.
Zen Galacticore
January 15th, 2013
3:58 am
What we should be asking is why so many young people, it seems, these days are allergic to this, that, or the other food?
I’m 48, and growing up, there was the occasional kid who was allergic to eggs, or maybe peanuts or something. Now we have people (again, it seems), who allergic to all sorts of things, from the gluten in wheat bread to naturally occurring pollen in the air.
What’s up with this apparent trend? Is it due to overly-sterile environments? Lack of exposure to farm animals? What?