Allergens

All food businesses should be aware of food allergies.

A food allergy is an abnormal, exaggerated reaction of the immune system to certain proteins in food. These proteins are known as allergens.

People who eat foods which they are allergic to, even in extremely small amounts, can suffer a very severe reaction, known as anaphylaxis.

The role of food businesses

Food businesses have a legal responsibility to:

provide safe food
manage food safety risks including those from allergens
make sure foods are accurately labelled
make sure any allergen-free claims are accurate.

All food businesses are required to have a documented food safety management system which is examined at each inspection.

We provide businesses with a safe catering pack which includes a section on food allergies. This should be completed by the business operator and will help raise awareness and knowledge of the issue among staff.

If someone with a food allergy asks you if a dish contains certain ingredients which they may be allergic to, you must never guess the answer. Remember, you don't have to provide someone with an allergen-free meal but if you mislead someone with a food allergy into thinking that a dish doesn't contain a certain allergen then the consequences could be very serious.

Many businesses perceive that if the allergen isn't included in the recipe, then the food should be safe. However, if an allergen is used or stored on your premises, this can contaminate the allergen-free food unless control measures are in place.

If you do decide to provide an allergen-free meal, you must be able to guarantee that:

no allergens have been used as ingredients in the meal
no allergens have been used as a garnish or cooking medium, for example, in oils
any risk of cross-contamination with allergens has been eliminated.

Our role

We understand the serious and potentially fatal consequences that a person with a food allergy could suffer if they consumed allergens. We help businesses to understand and meet legal requirements and we monitor compliance and take action where necessary to correct non-compliance.

We also recognise that for businesses managing allergens isn't just about removing the risk of supplying food to allergen sufferers. Allergen sufferers are also consumers and should have as wide a range of foods and restaurants to choose from as possible. So we support and encourage businesses, where appropriate, to offer allergen-free foods or accommodate allergen sufferers in other ways.

We use targeted sampling of foods and participate in allergen surveys to make sure that foods are safe to eat and that the food is properly described and labelled (including the presence of allergens). This includes sampling foods imported through the port of Belfast. Where we've purchased nut-free meals from take away food outlets, surveys have been carried out and analysed for the presence of nuts. We took follow up action for foods which contained this allergen.

We also investigate complaints made by members of the public including allergy claims made by businesses.

We look at claims made during inspections and if an allergen-free food is offered we'll investigate how this food is made to make sure that it's free from allergens. This can involve an examination of the recipe and manufacturing process as well as sampling of the food to find out if allergens are present.

Common allergens

The following foods are common allergens and are outlined in law:

peanuts
nuts
fish
eggs
crustaceans
sesame seeds
milk
soybeans
celery (including celeriac)
mustard
lupin
molluscs
cereals containing gluten
sulphur dioxide and sulphites.

This isn't a definite list. People can also be allergic to other foods and substances, for example, bananas, kiwis or latex.

Requests about these foods should be treated with the same importance as the allergens outlined above.

Manager's checklist

Know your recipes and ingredients thoroughly
Manage ingredients information and keep it available on request
Ask suppliers to notify you of any changes to ingredients
Check that items delivered match exactly those ordered
Store key allergens separately where practical, and make sure that they're kept covered and clearly labelled
Make sure that all staff are alert to food allergy risks and have up to date training appropriate to their activities
Test your employees' knowledge regularly
Show staff how to wash up and clean effectively and alert them to allergy cross-contamination risks and how to control them
Make sure that menus and signs have allergy messages to encourage allergic customers to ask about food on sale

Preparing allergen-free meals

Before providing these meals, you need to check the following areas:

Order, delivery and storage procedures

Are procedures in place to check the allergen content of any substitute ingredients used?
Is ingredient labelling kept with foods during storage?
Have you controlled any cross-contamination risks during storage?

Allergens should be stored separately or below other ingredients.

Ingredients which contain allergens should be decanted in an area where they won't contaminate other food products.

Use containers with a lid to store allergens and use colour-coded boxes to identify and prevent their reuse with other ingredients.

Food preparation

Have you assigned a trained member of staff to prepare an allergen-free meal?
Have you controlled cross-contamination risks during food preparation?

You can do this by:

deciding which work areas should be used to prepare allergen-free meals
cleaning work surfaces thoroughly with hot water and detergent
making sure staff wash their hands thoroughly
cleaning all equipment and utensils before using them
using fresh oils to prepare the meal
controlling the risk of contamination from flour or crumbs
assigning a member of staff to work only on the allergen-free meal until it's ready.

Service

Have you considered the cross-contamination risks presented by self-service or buffet-style meals?

You should encourage customers with food allergies to make their dietary needs clear in advance, giving you time to prepare a separate meal.

Have you controlled the cross-contamination risks involved in serving your food?

You can do this by:

only using clean crockery and utensils
plating allergen-free meals separately to prevent cross-contamination from garnishes or food products
making sure the table area where the customer will actually eat the meal is thoroughly cleaned
having one member of staff deal with allergy requests to eliminate any chance of orders getting mixed up.

Training

Have you made sure frontline staff are adequately trained to deal with requests for allergen-free meals?

The person preparing the meal must be clearly told which allergens the customer must avoid.

Have you appointed someone to deal with allergen-free requests in case a member of staff cannot provide full and accurate information?
Have you trained all relevant food handlers in how to prepare an allergen-free meal?

Food handlers should know what constitutes an allergen, the steps they must take to prevent cross-contamination and be aware that all of the allergens outlined above may be contained in the ingredients they are using.

Complaints

If someone is alleging food poisoning against your business, do you know what to do? Contact us immediately. Outside of office hours you can phone us on 07850 499622.

Further information

Gluten-free guide

The Food Standards Agency has published a factsheet to help caterers understand when to label food 'gluten free' when the rules change next year. It has been published to coincide with National Coeliac Awareness Week.

The key change, after 1 January next year, will be that the term 'gluten free' can only be used on foods that contain less than 20 parts of gluten in a million. Recent evidence has shown that using this extremely low level will offer better protection for people with an intolerance to gluten. Previously, there was no limit set in law for foods described as 'gluten-free' and so levels could vary.

With an easy to use flow chart, the factsheet will assist caterers and those in the hospitality industry train their staff so that they can understand the new descriptions and exactly what they mean so that they can explain to customers what the foods contain and how they are made.

Later this year, the Agency will be providing specific information for consumers to help raise awareness of the new rules.