A Minnesota mom's goal of making allergy-free lunches for schools
When one Twin Cities mom discovered that her infant son had severe food allergies, it changed her life and inspired her to start her own business.
Like every parent, Angie Nelson wanted to do the best for her kids. When she and her husband learned at six months at their first child Liam had four of the top nine food allergies, it lit a fire.
"I want him to grow up eating the things that I got to eat," Nelson said.
Walking the grocery aisles, she'd read every label and the fine print for safe foods, but noticed something was missing.
"Why aren't there more options for meal solutions?" she recalled.
In 2020, Nelson teamed up with former Mayo Clinic Chef Gilbert Junge to develop Liam's by Safer Plate. The meals are single-serve frozen entrees completely free of the top nine food allergens.
A commercial kitchen in Eden Prairie produces 3,500 allergy-safe meals a week. They are then shipped to over 500 grocery stores and to an emerging market: schols.
The number of children with at least one food allergy is steadily growing, with 5.6 million children — or 8% — allergic to some type of food.
Boston Public Schools started serving Liam's meals this spring, and other school districts will come online in the fall.
"The K-12 piece is a big opportunity for us. And it's a challenging opportunity but I think the more item that we can offer and fit in with what they would have as a cycle menu in schools is going to be the place that we're heading," said Junge.
The schools are asking for allergy-safe versions of lunchroom favorites, like the cafeteria rectangle pizza made famous in the 1980s.
"Right now, kids just go without it," said Junge. "So we are working on that line."
But Junge and Nelson know all too well that it needs to look at taste like the "regular stuff."
"So it's making the food exciting and something that Liam's buddy will say, 'hey what are you eating, I want to try that,'" said Nelson.
It's all in an attempt to bring acceptance and lower anxiety for food allergic kids and adults.
"A big dream of mine is to change the stigma of food allergies." said Nelson.
Locally, Liam's Meals can be found in all Lunds & Byerlys, Valley Natural Foods, Kowalski's and select Target locations, along with Fresh Thyme and Hy-Vee stores.
