David Ehmann admits packing a lunch for his 10-year-old son is not easy.
âHeâs a picky eater. We struggle every day to make him something thatâs both nutritious and that heâll like,â says the Georgetown, Ont. father.
One thing Ehmannâs son does love is soy nut butter, which tastes just like peanut butter but is completely tree nut- and peanut-free. Too bad itâs effectively banned at Ehmannâs sonâs school.
At several school boards across Canada, not only are there strict policies banning peanut and tree nut butters, many are also informing parents that âalternative spreadsâ aren't permitted in lunch bags either.
The York District School Board, the third largest in Ontario, began asking parents to stop using nut-free butters three years ago, explaining that the spreads are confusing for teachers and students because they look, smell and taste so much like real peanut butter.
âOur teachers monitor the kidsâ lunches, and we really have no way to be able to tell the difference between real peanut butter and these other alternatives,â York Region District School Board spokesperson Christina Choo-Hum explained to CTVNews.ca.
âWe chose to impose the policy consistently, and across the board, because it wouldnât be fair to tell students at one school, 'Yes, you can bring this in,' and then tell kids at other schools, 'No.' We wanted to be respectful of all the children.â
For the manufacturers of these peanut butter alternatives -- often small, local start-ups -- the policies donât make much sense. The whole point of their products is that they are nut-free and offer an alternative to peanut butter.
One pea butter maker in Smithville, Ont. called has tried to help frustrated parents by drafting a letter they can send to principals explaining the productâs ingredients and assuring them that the spread is nut-free and safe.
The makers of , a spread made from roasted soybeans that is peanut- and nut-free, have gone a step further. Two years ago, the Staffa, Ont-based company began including peel-off stickers under their labels that can be placed on sandwich containers to explain that it's made with WowButter, not peanut butter.
WowButter president Scott Mahon says the labels should eliminate any issues of peanut butter confusion, but he says there are still several school boards that have policies against his product and none seem willing to change them.
âThe schools and school boards have dug their heels in. They wonât listen,â he says.
As sales of WowButter grow and more parents learn of the policies every September, Mahon says he hears more and more complaints from parents.
âMany of these parents are extremely upset and frustrated. And Iâm as frustrated as they are,â he says.
Even parents of peanut-allergic kids report that their kids are being sent to the principalâs office for bringing in WowButter, Mahon says.
âThe parents are saying, âDo you really think we would send our peanut-allergic kid to school with peanut butter?â But the schools say thatâs their policy. There just seems to be zero common sense going on.â
Mounting protests
One angry parent started this week urging her school board to change its policy. Another London, Ont. parent Mahon has spoken to is considering organizing a protest day in which a large group of parents will send in WowButter sandwiches on the same day, effectively daring the school to send everyone to the principalâs office at once.
School boards are not able to legally ban nut butter alternatives, Mahon says, nor can they take sandwiches away from children. Instead, he says, they have students who bring in alternative spreads eat their lunch alone in another room or in the principalâs office. Mahon says that amounts to bullying, and isnât fair to parents who are trying to abide by the peanut-free rules.
Mahon says he knows of several schools that have decided to allow spreads such as WowButter, sending a note home to parents saying the sandwiches are acceptable if they are properly labelled.
But the school boards that brought in policies against alternative spreads two or three years ago donât seem interested in changing their policies now that his product contains labelling stickers.
âItâs like everything else: they donât want to be that group that changes its mind. Theyâre not interested in compromise and theyâve dug in their heels,â he says.
Choo-Hum from the York Region Board says the school board did recently revisit the issue and decided that the stickers didnât clear up the confusion in a satisfactory way. She says for many students with peanut allergies, seeing a sandwich with a spread that may have the ability to kill them is upsetting, and its policy respects those studentsâ right not to be unnecessarily worried.
âUltimately, we put the wellbeing of our students as the top priority,â she says.