How can you stay informed about food allergens and intolerance?

Thank you for bringing this to light. There have been much-needed and significant improvements in understanding food allergens in the past 25 years. I still see well meaning staff confuse dairy allergy with lactose intolerance. This can be life-threatening for those with severe dairy allergies. Education is critical. Keep it going!

It's important to understand that an allergic response to food allergens can be life-threatening resulting in death within minutes or even seconds! Always take them seriously, and never have a casual response! The individual in distress may not be capable of asking for help.

If a food contains certain known allergens or traces of them whether it is packed or served fresh , adding or informing about the that particular ingredient is very important to avoid unnecessary inconvenience.

Every chef and food handler must be aware and implement allergies information to the total team to avoid any contamination can cause bad health problems personally wee post in our kitchen bored the 14 allergy items with photos as simple to understand and allergen data guide and making references training regularly

The best way to avoid reactions is to provide good training to kitchen employees from executive chef to kitchen assistant. Establish an action protocol for what types of foods cause allergies and intolerance and review this protocol in daily or weekly meetings. Training Manual, and meeting with feedback at all levels. It would also be good to use complementary foods to replace the most problematic ones (sesame, mustard, celery, sulfites, or latex intolerance, gluten intolerance, fructose intolerance, and histamine intolerance). In this way, all customers can eat everything without cross contamination.

The United States has now added sesame as the 9th named allergen for labeling. This was added as part of the 2022 FDA Food Code. So far, Pennsylvania and Mississippi are the first two states to adopt the 2022 version, but more are sure to follow.

The addition of sesame as the 9th named allergen for labeling is very problematic. It can have the same life-threatening response as other allergens. However, food manufacturers have begun ADDING sesame to their products that were previously sesame-free! Food manufacturers feel the federal regulations are too stringent so it is easier to label 'contains sesame' than to try to prevent cross-contamination. Do not assume that previously safe food is still safe. Always read the label and protect you and your customers.

As Executive Sous Chef at a celebrity-owned Indian restaurant, I implemented a Food Allergen Awareness program ensuring staff's ability to avoid guest food-related adverse reactions. FOH managers were already emphasizing inclusion of allergy/intolerance inquiries in servers' tableside greetings before taking food orders. We also had a firm rule: Servers MUST notify the kitchen, both verbally and on-ticket, of ALL guest allergies, intolerances, or medical conditions. My best contribution was creating comprehensive allergen guides for every component in each item on 3 different menus, using a 3-color system that showed cross-contamination and risk levels for over 20 potential allergens, and provided printed references for staff accessibility.

Be sure to enforce separate cutting boards and knives for every food preparation such as sandwiches. Never cut a sandwich and reuse a cloth to wipe off the knife before cutting the next sandwich. A reused cloth can never fully clean a knife or surface and may cross-contaminate.

Respond to the emergency situation first with the individual's EpiPen if available and calling emergency services. Do not try to find the source of reaction until after aid is provided and emergency services are called. Seconds matter!