A school in Plymouth has come in for criticism for its two-year-old decision to ban children from eating bananas at the school.

Plymouth council leader Vivien Pengelly has criticised Stoke Damerel Primary School after it stopped children from bringing the fruit into school as one of its staff members has a life-threatening allergy to them, reports The Herald.

Pengelly told The Herald: "This is the first I have heard about this and it does sound a bit over the top to me. It's my experience as a headteacher that when there are allergies in a school we encourage children to manage the risk around them.”

The ban, which is backed by Plymouth City Council, has been in place for two years and is set to end in September when the unnamed staff member is due to leave the school.

A city council spokesperson said banana allergies were rare, but latex-fruit syndrome was more common and could cause an anaphylactic shock leading to collapse and even death.

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