The importance of allergens

Around two million consumers in the UK have a food allergy or intolerance, and for some that allergy can result in a life threatening reaction. So it’s vital that clear and accurate advice is available to your customers at all times. Equally as important; staff need to know their stuff too, when a customer calls with a query. It is important that all information is accurate and up to date at all times. If you need help with an allergen matrix, you can use one off the FSA website here.

Based in Scotland? Food Standards Scotland's training tool has been developed to help bring awareness about allergens in manufacturing and catering settings.

Make sure you provide up-to-date training for your staff.
It needs to be relevant to the food you are serving and the processes you are following.

Menu briefings should always consider allergy management.
Keep the subject in the forefront of your teams’ minds at all times.

Work with your food suppliers and conduct regular checks.
Make sure you know the ingredients that go in to your menu.
Even a simple swap of one ingredient for another brand could mean you need to change your allergen information.

Help your customers.
See that your staff understand the importance of checking the allergen content of dishes each and every time they get a query.

Ensure that there are no barriers to customers communicating their allergies.

Don’t risk prosecution.
Should a customer have a severe allergic reaction and the allergen has not been listed, you may be prosecuted.
Saying you ‘did not know’ is not good enough in the eyes of the law.

Need more advice and guidance?
Talk to your local authority food safety officer
There’s a lot of excellent, free resources, e-training and easy-to-understand information on the FSA’s website.