Educaterers focus on allergen awareness and protection

The consequences of exposure to food allergens by children and young people has hit the news in recent months, with a number of examples from around the world of the tragic impact that exposure to allergens - such as sesame, peanut and dairy to name but a few - can sometimes have.

Food allergy now affects around 7% of children in the UK and there has been a notable rise in allergies in recent years.

School caterers, Educaterers, take allergen awareness and protection very seriously and have a designated ‘Purple Process’ for identifying children with special dietary requirements in the infant, junior and primary schools that they serve.

Educaterers have noticed increasing numbers of special diets requested for pupils with food allergies and intolerances.

All Educaterers school catering teams are given a purple folder in which to keep all the information about their pupils’ special diets, and all staff are trained in the use of the Purple Process before they are permitted to serve food.

This ensures that all Educaterers staff, wherever they work, know where to find the information and will follow the same procedure. The colour purple was chosen as it is the recognised industry standard associated with food allergens.

On seeing a child wearing a purple wristband or presenting a purple card, all Educaterers staff must stop and check the correct meal is being served against the information they hold in the purple folder.

In addition to this information, the folder also includes step-by-step flow charts for the purple process and complicated multiple special diets, plus generic multiple allergen advisory sheets, for example, vegan, egg and fish free.

Special diets for children with complicated requirements are developed by Educaterers in partnership with parents, carers and the child’s hospital dietician.

In addition to this, Educaterers offer allergy awareness training to all school staff – of particular use and importance to midday supervisors and any teachers or assistants involved in school cookery clubs, for example.

The training defines what is meant by food allergy, highlights food safety law in the UK, and looks at common examples of food allergy and their associated symptoms.

It looks at the differences between intolerances and allergies, including hidden allergens, the 14 specific allergens that have to be declared, how to prevent allergen contamination and give emergency first aid.

For more information about Educaterers, visit www.educaterers.co.uk