Safer Food Scores /
  • Home
    • Why Choose Us
    • Food Manufacturers
    • Central and Dark Kitchens
    • Schools and Universities
    • Hospitals and Care Homes
    • Food Retail
    • Hotels and Food Service
    • Offices and Workplaces
    • Other
  • Consultancy
    • About Our Consultancy
    • Food Hygiene
      • Food Hygiene Consultancy
      • HACCP & Food Safety Management Systems
      • Food Hygiene Audit
      • SALSA accreditation
      • BRC accreditation
      • Food sample testing
      • SFBB Coaching
      • Food Hygiene Ratings
    • Food Allergens
    • Health & Safety
    • Food Labelling
      • Natashas Law Food Labelling Guidance
      • Label Compliance Checks
      • Nutritional Content Checks
      • Food Labelling Courses
    • Food Date Labels
    • Legal Support
    • Primary Authority
    • Restaurant start ups
  • Training
    • About Our Training
    • E-learning
    • Course Dates & Prices
    • Food Hygiene Courses
      • Level 1 Award in Food Safety
      • Level 2 Award in Food Safety
      • Level 2 Award in HACCP
      • Level 3 Award in Food Safety
      • Level 3 Audit and Inspection Skills
      • Level 4 Award in Food Safety
      • Food Hygiene Update
    • Food Allergen courses
      • Level 2 Award in Food Allergen Awareness
      • Level 3 Award in Food Allergen Management
    • Food Labelling Courses
    • Health & Safety Courses
      • Level 1 in Health & Safety
      • Level 2 in Health & Safety
      • Level 3 in Health and Safety
      • Level 2 in Risk Assessment
    • Train the Trainer Courses
      • Level 3 in EAT – Education And Training
      • Level 3 Award in Delivering Training
    • Fire Safety Courses
      • Level 1 In Fire Safety
      • Level 2 In Fire Safety
    • Environmental courses
      • IEMA Environmental Sustainability Skills for the Workforce
      • IEMA Environmental Sustainability for Managers
    • Licensing Courses
      • Level 2 For Personal Licence Holders
    • Training Venues
      • London – Central
      • London – West
      • Hertfordshire
      • Bedfordshire
      • North Bucks
      • South Bucks
      • Essex
  • Software
    • About our software
    • Digital diaries
    • Audit management
    • Incident management
    • Training management
    • Risk management
    • E-learning
  • Get A Quote
  • News
  • Clients
  • Contact
    • Contact Us
    • Directions
    • Join Our Team
Safer Food Scores

protecting your reputation

SFS Hub Login

  • 01442 877322
hello@saferfoodscores.co.uk
  • Home
    • Why Choose Us
    • Food Manufacturers
    • Central and Dark Kitchens
    • Schools and Universities
    • Hospitals and Care Homes
    • Food Retail
    • Hotels and Food Service
    • Offices and Workplaces
    • Other
  • Consultancy
    • About Our Consultancy
    • Food Hygiene
      • Food Hygiene Consultancy
      • HACCP & Food Safety Management Systems
      • Food Hygiene Audit
      • SALSA accreditation
      • BRC accreditation
      • Food sample testing
      • SFBB Coaching
      • Food Hygiene Ratings
    • Food Allergens
    • Health & Safety
    • Food Labelling
      • Natashas Law Food Labelling Guidance
      • Label Compliance Checks
      • Nutritional Content Checks
      • Food Labelling Courses
    • Food Date Labels
    • Legal Support
    • Primary Authority
    • Restaurant start ups
  • Training
    • About Our Training
    • E-learning
    • Course Dates & Prices
    • Food Hygiene Courses
      • Level 1 Award in Food Safety
      • Level 2 Award in Food Safety
      • Level 2 Award in HACCP
      • Level 3 Award in Food Safety
      • Level 3 Audit and Inspection Skills
      • Level 4 Award in Food Safety
      • Food Hygiene Update
    • Food Allergen courses
      • Level 2 Award in Food Allergen Awareness
      • Level 3 Award in Food Allergen Management
    • Food Labelling Courses
    • Health & Safety Courses
      • Level 1 in Health & Safety
      • Level 2 in Health & Safety
      • Level 3 in Health and Safety
      • Level 2 in Risk Assessment
    • Train the Trainer Courses
      • Level 3 in EAT – Education And Training
      • Level 3 Award in Delivering Training
    • Fire Safety Courses
      • Level 1 In Fire Safety
      • Level 2 In Fire Safety
    • Environmental courses
      • IEMA Environmental Sustainability Skills for the Workforce
      • IEMA Environmental Sustainability for Managers
    • Licensing Courses
      • Level 2 For Personal Licence Holders
    • Training Venues
      • London – Central
      • London – West
      • Hertfordshire
      • Bedfordshire
      • North Bucks
      • South Bucks
      • Essex
  • Software
    • About our software
    • Digital diaries
    • Audit management
    • Incident management
    • Training management
    • Risk management
    • E-learning
  • Get A Quote
  • News
  • Clients
  • Contact
    • Contact Us
    • Directions
    • Join Our Team

News

How to manage food allergies in a restaurant

8 Oct 2020

1.5 million people in the UK have a food allergy or intolerance. Around 10 people each year die from eating something that they are allergic to and many more become severely ill. Food allergies are a major food safety issue and quite rightly command a great deal of attention from the media and the Food Standards Agency.

Caterers have a legal responsibility to declare allergens in their products and to prevent them contacting other products. No one could doubt that fully complying with these important regulations is the right thing to do but, unless you manage a food business, it is hard to imagine just how hard that can be.

Here are some practical tips that are key to good allergen management:

 1. Train, train and train

Allergen management is dependent on humans and humans make errors. Sometimes due to lack of care, but often due to not knowing better. Make sure all new starters and agency staff are given allergy awareness training on their first day and know to refer an allergic customer to a manager straightaway. There are some great food allergy awareness e-learning courses available that will ensure staff understand the reasons why allergen controls are so important instead of seeing allergy sufferers as ‘fussy’ or difficult.

2. Designate allergen champions

Choose back-of-house and front-of-house allergen champions and make sure at least one is always available in both locations. They should attend the Level 3 Award in Food Allergen Management which is a one-day face-to-face course which will teach them to hazard spot and to predict mistakes that could lead to serious allergen incidents. They will need to know and understand your allergen procedures and menu inside out. Providing them with ‘allergen trained’ badges will make sure your team know who to refer to.

3. Encourage dialogue with allergy sufferers

A large proportion of allergy deaths occur in teenagers and young adults. It is believed this is because they are embarrassed to make people aware of their allergies and willing to ‘take a chance’. If you don’t declare allergens on signage or labels, you are legally obliged to display a sign like ‘if you have food allergies and intolerances, please let us know’ so that customers are aware the information is available. Making it a service standard to ask all customers if they have any allergies when they are served and the wearing of ‘allergen trained’ badges can make allergy sufferers feel safe and that their allergies will be taken seriously.

4. Have strong communication channels

Often allergic incidents occur when a customer has made someone aware of their allergy, but this information has not been communicated clearly to the person responsible for preparing the food. It is not unusual, either, for the wrong meal to be given to a customer due to poor communication between the chef and the server. Allergy sufferers should be referred to a front-of-house allergen champion who will provide product information. They will then liaise with the back-of-house champion who will supervise the preparation and service of the food.

5. Review your allergen information regularly

Your supplier isn’t legally obliged to notify you when the ingredients within a product change, so you should ensure that they will and how they will do this before taking on any suppliers. When ingredients do change you may need to amend your allergen charts, labels, website and other promotional literature. To avoid the risk of out-of-date information being available, you should consider cloud based allergen software, Menu Guide, which allows customers to see at a glance which meals contain the allergen that they cannot eat and allows them to filter your menu according to those that they can eat. A link to this information can be put on your website or customers can find this out by scanning a QR code in the restaurant with their phone.

Safer Food Scores can put your mind at rest that you are following best practice in allergen management. We can carry out advisory visits, develop allergen risk assessments, carry out food allergen audits, provide allergen training and supply you with ‘allergen trained’ badges. We also work with Menu Guide to put your allergen data online. Please contact us for more information.

Any guidance given in our articles is not official and Safer Food Scores can take no responsibility if the information is used to form part of any legal or regulatory compliance for your business. However, please do get in touch if you are interested in our support services and would like to benefit from official guidance relating to your particular circumstances, email [javascript protected email address]

BlogKeep up to date

  • Our Newsletter
  • Health and Safety
  • Food Safety
  • Hospitality Industry
  • Food Standards Agency

BlogCategories

  • Accidents
  • Coronavirus
  • COVID-19
  • Elearning
  • Enforcement
  • Fire safety
  • First aid
  • Food allergies
  • Food hygiene ratings
  • Food labelling
  • Food poisoning
  • Food safety
  • Food supplier assurance
  • HACCP
  • Health & safety
  • Healthy eating
  • Ill health
  • Nutrition
  • Pest control
  • Prosecutions
  • Safer Assured news
  • Safer Food Scores news
  • Training
  • Uncategorised

BlogTags

acrylamide allergen labelling asbestos BRC approval calorie labelling campylobacter COSHH COVID-19 e-learning E.coli Eggs EHO inspections enforcement fish food adulteration food fraud food handlers food labelling food safety food safety culture free offers FSA game based training health and safety hepatitis A HSE industry guides Listeria NHS Test and Trace norovirus outbreaks oysters poultry PPE primary authority rare burgers Safer Assured salmonella SALSA accreditation Sentencing guidelines shellfish software stress sushi working at height

BlogArchive

Sign up to
our newsletter

Safer Food Scores
  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • Clients
  • Get A Quote
  • Why Choose Us
  • News
  • Directions
  • GDPR Compliant Privacy Policy
Consultancy
  • Health & Safety Consultancy
  • Food Hygiene Consultancy
  • Food Date Labels
  • Software
  • FSMS & HACCP
  • Food Hygiene Ratings
  • Primary Authority Partnerships
  • Start Up Restaurant Advice
Training
  • About Training
  • Online courses
  • Course Dates & Prices
  • Food Hygiene Certificate
  • Health & Safety Courses
  • Food Allergens & Labelling Courses
  • Environmental Sustainability
  • Fire Safety Courses
  • Licensing Courses
Contact us
01442 877322 hello@saferfoodscores.co.uk
Safer Food Scores Ltd
Berkhamsted House,
121 High Street
Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire
HP4 2DJ
© 2022 Safer Food Scores
  • Contact
  • GDPR Compliant Privacy Policy
Website By FL1 Digital