My children can’t take nuts to school because of the remotest chance that one of kids with allergies might come in contact with nuts.
The mother could should have been able to see that the bakery had nut-based items behind the counter, and should have know that despite the reassurances from a Publix employee, that there was a good possibility that there was cross-contamination.
For these parents, don’t assume the employee knows if there is cross-contamination, since most likely, the employee really doesn’t know the severity of the consequences for being wrong.
In other words, if there is a doubt, leave it out (of your child’s mouth).
If parents can't trust the labels, what can they trust?
I thought like you do at first, but food allergy is rapidly becoming a serious, epidemic health problem that threatens us all.
Nobody knows the cause of this rapid development.
You will understand the problem when one of your children develops a food allergy--I pray that this never happens, mind you--which is becoming more and more likely.
When that happens, you will understand the importance of nut-free schools.
From the point of view of the school teachers--how would you like to have a suddenly dying child on your hands?
And from your point of view, how would you feel if you accidentally sent nut-contaminated food to school and one of the children died from it?
This is a bigger problem than most people realize.