Allergen Aware Month in Food Service is a pledge from all types of food and beverage businesses to re-boot their allergen awareness, remind staff to be compliant with the law, refresh their training and generally get all employees re-focussed and alert to this essential aspect of working in Catering & Hospitality!
Allergen Accredited businesses*, especially schools and universities, are reporting that more and more customers have some form of allergy or intolerance to certain ingredients! (*Accredited food and drink businesses have had their allergen management systems tested, verified and certified to ensure they meet with the law and Industry Best Practice.)

The profile of allergen management in catering and hospitality is also on the increase. Indeed we are becoming all too familiar with reports on shortcomings and prosecutions when businesses have failed to adhere to the laws. With 2% of the population in the UK with a registered allergy plus some 20 million people with intolerances for certain ingredients caterers have had to accept that meeting with special dietary requests and dealing with queries about allergenic ingredients from customers has become the norm.

The Allergen Accreditation community that now spans education, B&I, healthcare, training institutions, private food service businesses and a multitude of business types would like to share their best practices with caterers across the UK and Ireland! We have been busy collaborating with as many friends, associations and their members as possible to make this a huge success for the benefit of those people with allergies their friends and families to be more confident on eating and drinking out!

Associations like the Catering Equipment Suppliers Association (CESA), Hospital Caterers Association (HCA), The British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) HOTELYMPIA 2018 organisers Fresh Montgomery, National Association of Care Catering (NACC), Anaphylaxis Campaign (AC), Lead Association for CAtering in Education (LACA), PS100, The Craft Guild of Chefs and many more fantastic groups and businesses are all sharing the same goal of Food Allergen Customer Excellence!

Andy Jones, Chair of the PS100 group commented “Making people, including caterers, more aware of allergens with campaigns and materials like this is essential in ensuring our staff are trained and kept up to date with current issues & legislation. I would urge all in the catering sector not just to use these tools but to share them with others” This January`s Allergen Aware month will be the largest awareness campaign of its kind and brings the industry together as one in the quest for the UK and Ireland to be global leaders in Food Allergen Customer Excellence.

Allergen Accreditation has collated a great deal of useful information to assist any type of catering business. This is all freely available to caterers. Neel Radia, National Chairman, National Association of Care Catering also had this to say “The NACC supports chefs and caterers in the care sector with information, advice and training to ensure they can confidently and safely manage food allergens. We therefore welcome any industry activity, like Allergen Accreditation’s initiative, that raises awareness and understanding and offers further support.”

Catering businesses can contact us for the industry led Allergen Accreditation, you can start by downloading our FREE pack below:

• Allergen aware kitchen checklist- a great refresher and training tool for front and back of house staff!
• Management checklist with useful free links to allergen information, emergency procedures, best practice recommendations and much more
• Resource Pack: information on organisations that can help caterers as well as useful tips. Links to the Food Standards Agency, The Food Standards Authority in Ireland and the Anaphylaxis Campaign are also included
• Signs to display that you’re part of the Allergen Aware Month in Food Service campaign

Catch up with @AllergenAwareUK for all our news.