Keeping School Meals Safe: How BVSD Approaches Food Allergies

At Boulder Valley School District, we believe every student deserves a meal they can enjoy safely. Behind every lunch line and breakfast cart is a team working daily to make sure students with food allergies, gluten sensitivities, and dietary restrictions have real options.

Our Approach to Allergen-Safe Menu Planning

Every menu item served across BVSD starts with allergens in mind. Before a recipe ever reaches a student's tray, it's reviewed for ingredients, cross-contact risk, and whether it can be adapted for common dietary needs. This planning happens at two levels: our Culinary Center, where menu items are created and scratch-produced from the ground up, and in kitchens at each of our schools, where trained staff prepare and serve food daily.

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, and Vegetarian — Every Day

Families will find gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegetarian options available daily across our menus. We offer these consistently, not just occasionally, because they're some of the most common dietary needs in our student population, and because no student should have to skip a meal or bring food from home simply because the cafeteria doesn't have something safe for them.

A Fresh, Gluten-Free Salad Bar — Every Day, at Every School

Every school in BVSD offers a full gluten-free salad bar, available daily. Featuring fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables, the salad bar gives students a reliable, naturally allergen-friendly option they can count on no matter what else is on the menu that day.

The Top Allergens We Avoid

BVSD menu planning steers clear of several of the most common and serious food allergens:

• Sesame
• Peanuts
• Tree nuts
• Fish
• Shellfish

Avoiding these top allergens at the ingredient and recipe stage is one of the most effective ways we reduce risk before food ever reaches a student.

How to Read the Menu for Allergens

Our published menus are labeled to make allergen information easy to spot. Look for tags like (GF) Gluten Free or (DF) Dairy Free next to menu items.  These labels tell you at a glance which options are available on a given day. If you're ever unsure what a label means or don't see the information you need, check out the BVSD Food Service Website where there are a variety of allergen and nutritional spreadsheets for all menus (breakfast, lunch, supper, and snack), to help you navigate the information you are seeking.  

How We Serve Allergen-Free Alternatives

Rather than simply removing an item, our goal is to substitute it with something just as satisfying. Depending on a student's needs, common swaps include:

• Gluten-free bread for students with gluten or wheat allergies
• Corn tortillas in place of flour tortillas, flatbreads and pita bread
• Brown rice as a grain alternative
• Cheese as ‘optional’ on many menu items such as tacos and meatball sub sandwiches

These substitutions are built into our kitchen routines so students with dietary restrictions can still enjoy a full, familiar meal alongside their classmates.

Locally Sourced, Carefully Prepared

Wherever possible, we source ingredients locally, supporting Colorado producers while also giving us closer visibility into where our food comes from. Combined with scratch cooking at our Culinary Center, this allows our team to control ingredients closely and make thoughtful substitutions, without sacrificing great taste, while keeping our students with allergies or dietary restrictions in mind.

Trained Staff, Every Step of the Way

Our kitchen staff, both at the Culinary Center and in individual schools, are trained in allergen awareness and cross-contamination prevention. From how food is stored, prepped and transported to how it's served in the line, our teams take deliberate steps to keep allergen-free options exactly that: allergen-free.

We're Here to Help!

If your student has a food allergy or dietary restriction, please connect with the health office and nurse at your school.  They can help coordinate any accommodations and make sure the right information reaches the right school and kitchen staff.

Our Food Services Technician and Certified Nutritionist, Hillary Hecht is BVSD's point person for food allergen and dietary questions and concerns districtwide. Whether you have a question about a specific ingredient, need help understanding a menu label, or want to talk through a special dietary menu or accommodation for your student, please don't hesitate to reach out.

Hillary Hecht: 720-561-2584 - hillary.hecht@bvsd.org

We encourage families to opt into our Allergen Alert email group through our website. This email group is used as a safety feature to alert families of children with food allergies of any menu or product changes or updates.

Food safety is a team effort between our kitchens, our schools, and our families, and we're grateful for the trust you place in us every day at mealtime.