WARREN – Come September, all 400 children in SAD 40’s Miller School will go nut-free, seed-free, pit-free and bean-free as part of a food ban designed to save a fellow pupil’s life.

That means no more peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches and no hot dogs with beans in school lunches or sack lunches.

Parents are being told this week not to send their children to school when classes begin Sept. 1 with anything containing peanuts, sunflower seeds, poppy seeds, sesame seeds or legumes such as dried peas and beans. Also banned: fresh peaches, apricots, avocados, plums, cherries or other pitted fruits.

Even the teachers’ snack machine is being removed.

“It’s going to be a learning process,” said Pat Ross, the school’s food services director.

Although more than one pupil at the school is allergic to such foods, one child’s sensitivity is life-threatening, Superintendent Pamela Carnahan said Tuesday. The child, whose identity has not been released, is so sensitive that he could have a reaction merely by smelling the breath of someone who has eaten the banned foods.

“It’s of such a serious nature, we’re making our school nut-free,” she said. “We are doing whatever we can.”

Miller School serves children in kindergarten through sixth grade. Principal Susan Ray said staff members will be trained to respond to such reactions and to use EpiPens, which is a brand name for a product that can be used to inject an antidote.

“This is the first policy initiative like this I’ve heard of,” said Robert Cobb, dean of the College of Education at the University of Maine in Orono. “It’s an increasing issue for schools.” Cobb noted that the younger the child, the more informed educators need to be.

SAD 40 comprises Warren, Waldoboro, Washington, Union and Friendship. Last year, the district drew criticism for giving some pupils whose lunch bills went unpaid peanut butter sandwiches rather than a hot lunch. That practice was stopped, board Chairwoman Bonnie Micue said Tuesday.

The decision to go nut-free has not been discussed at the board level, Micue said, but she said the law requires schools to provide a safe environment for all students. “You have to accommodate whatever [students’] needs are.”

District officials are still awaiting a detailed list of allergic substances from the child’s allergist, so the banned items may change. “We wanted enough lead time to educate our parents, to raise the awareness level,” Carnahan said.

So the district has distributed a letter it says is from the mother of the severely allergic child. “Our son knows he is allergic to nuts, he knows not to take food from other people, but accidents happen,” the letter says. “With Miller School becoming nut-free, it greatly reduces the threat of an accident that could kill my son. It makes it as safe for my son to attend school as it is for your child.”

Dr. Yeow Tan, an allergy specialist at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, said nut allergies are not uncommon – as many as one in every 10 people experience an uncomfortable reaction. Symptoms range from an itchy skin rash to an immediate, life-threatening condition known as anaphylaxis.

The incidence of such allergies is on the rise, Tan said, perhaps because of an increasingly nut-rich American diet but more likely due to industrialization and the presence of multiple irritants in the environment.

Tan, who is not involved with SAD 40’s situation, said she has heard of schools designating a special “nut-free” table in the lunchroom to accommodate student allergies. “In most cases, that’s sufficient,” Tan said, adding that different cases require different degrees of vigilance.

Last year, the Miller School had such a table in its cafeteria, Ray said. On days when the school served peanut butter-and-jelly pocket sandwiches for lunch, the allergic child’s mother kept him home. “Because of that he didn’t have equal access to education,” Ray said.

So this year, the child’s parents asked the school to go nut-free. A committee made up of the school nurse, the directors of student services and food services, Ray and the mother met to determine what to do, Ray said.

In providing for one child’s needs, however, district officials said Tuesday they also are concerned about balancing the needs of all students.

“We also have to consider others,” Ray said, noting the affordability of peanut butter sandwiches.

The state Department of Education does not maintain data on the number of severely allergic students, allergy-related incidents or nut-free schools, nutrition education specialist Mary Moody said. She said nut-free schools are no longer uncommon.

“It’s handled at the local level,” she said. “We seem to be hearing more and more about those kinds of allergies.”

When asked about the district’s liability, Superintendent Carnahan said she believes the school is taking reasonable actions to protect the child. “It’s not reasonable to stand at the door and check everyone’s back packs or lunch bags,” she said. But the school will be vigilant.

– NEWS reporter Meg Haskell contributed to this report.

What can parents do?

“Always read the labels,” cautions Dr. Yeow Tan, allergy specialist at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor.

Nut allergies must be handled the way any food sensitivity or chronic metabolic condition would be handled, she said. Dangerous foods must be closely supervised until children understand the importance of steering clear of them, Tan said.

Family and other caregivers need to learn which foods are safe and which are dangerous. Halloween is an especially tricky time, she said.

While most researchers believe the specific protein that triggers the nut allergy must be eaten to cause a reaction, there is growing speculation that some ultrasensitive people might react to minuscule airborne particles. In airplanes, where pressure changes make such particles more likely, peanuts are off the menu, Tan noted ? explaining the prevalence of pretzels in air travel.

While some reactions can be prevented with periodic “allergy shots,” Tan said, there is no such treatment available for food allergies. Children should learn to recognize the earliest sign of a reaction and to ask for help, she said.

Teens and adults should have access to an “epi-pen” ? a prepackaged injection that can counter an allergic reaction.

? NEWS reporter Meg Haskell