Catering for Christmas – allergy awareness

Ensuring customers receive accurate food and allergy information is important all year round, but at Christmas – when menus are often unfamiliar to both staff and customers – it is even more crucial to be vigilant. Failure to provide correct information can endanger lives and leave business owners facing serious criminal charges. Make sure your customers are safe and your menus accurate by following these guidelines.

Check ingredients thoroughly. Review the ingredients of all foods and recipes on your Christmas menu to see if any of the 14 specific food allergens are present. Remember that manufacturers may add festive allergenic ingredients, such as nuts, that you would not expect to find at other times of the year. Always check that what is delivered matches what was ordered.

Keep detailed records. Maintain a file or folder containing all allergen information for each dish so staff can answer enquiries correctly and show the relevant page to customers if requested. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has produced an allergy checklist that can help you.

Inform customers about all allergens in your food, either in writing or verbally. If you do not have enough room on your menu for all allergy information, you must make customers aware that they can ask staff for advice about allergens. If you package any food in advance of sale, then different rules apply and the packaging needs a full ingredients list with allergenic ingredients emphasised.

Always check – never guess. When a customer asks about allergens, staff should be aware of the dangers of giving incorrect allergy advice and be trained to check with the kitchen every time someone asks about an allergen. This is especially important at Christmas when staff are not as familiar with new foods on the menu and when you may be employing temporary staff.

Handle ingredient substitutions carefully. If you run out of ingredients, do not use any substitutes until you have first checked for allergens. Update your allergen file/menu and make sure all staff are aware of such changes immediately.

Prevent cross-contamination. Some allergy sufferers can have a severe reaction to minute traces of an allergen in their food, so even if you do not intentionally add the allergen as an ingredient, there may be cross-contamination from work surfaces, utensils, storage containers, cooking pans and so on. You should ensure you have procedures in place to avoid cross-contamination, such as:

● Store and label foods separately in closed containers to ensure staff always know what ingredients are in containers and to prevent cross-contamination

● Keep ingredients that contain allergens separate from other ingredients

● Use separate work surfaces, chopping boards and utensils for foods prepared free from one or several allergens

● Clean utensils before each use, especially if they were used to prepare meals containing allergens

● Wash hands thoroughly between preparing dishes with and without certain allergens

Be cautious with allergen-free claims. Do not serve an allergy-free meal unless you can be sure that all your ingredients are free from the allergen and that you have avoided all cross-contamination. If you cannot avoid cross-contamination, you should tell customers that you cannot provide an allergen-free dish.

Remember, food allergies can be life-threatening and the only way people can manage a food allergy is to avoid the foods that make them ill. It is your responsibility to know your ingredients and to inform your customers. A mistake that exposes a customer to an allergen could cause severe harm, damage trust in your business and result in legal action.