Peanut Butter Could be Eliminated from Winchester Lunch Menus

It has become a growing concern among parents. And this past fall, the Winchester School Committee decided to look into their policy on

Winchester first initiated a policy in 2008, but last fall, parents urged to update it, which would potentially eliminate school-made peanut butter sandwiches in the cafeteria.

According to Winchester parent Zoe RajBahandary, there are 294 students in the district with some sort of a peanut allergy.

“Every day peanut butter and jelly is offered in the cafeteria,” RajBahandary said. “We’re not asking for a school-wide ban, but we need to explore the options and possibly removing it from the school’s menu. We need to limit the risks.”

Over the past 20 years, 11 EpiPens have been used in the Winchester schools. According to Winchester’s Nurse Leader, Betty Britt, none of those pens were used because of an allergic reaction due to food in the school cafeteria.

“We need to explore why 70 percent of the school districts in the surrounding area have removed peanut butter from their menu,” RajBahandary said.

However, Britt disagreed with that statement, saying that a number of the surrounding communities still serve peanut butter.

“We need time to look into this issue,” McAlduff said. “I’m interested to see what our surrounding communities are doing and if they eliminated peanut butter from their menu.”

According to School Committee member, Michael Schindelman, the committee will continue to look at the issue, but said that there is no financial impact if they remove peanut butter from the menus.

“There is no such thing as a peanut-free cafeteria,” RajBahandray said. “Winchester has a perfect opportunity to send a message. We need to do what we can to limit the amount of peanut butter introduced in the school system. People look forward to the day when their kids don’t need to sit at a separate table.”

The Committee will continue to look at this issue throughout the summer and into the fall.