Supporting customers with food sensitivities

Introduction

This resource is the third part of our three-part factsheet on food sensitivities:

• Introduction to food sensitivities
• Supporting customers with food sensitivities.
• Supporting employees with food sensitivities.

This factsheet details steps businesses can take to welcome and support customers, clients and other visitors with food sensitivities.

Who is this section for?

This part is for any organisation that serves or sells food to the public. This includes:

• Retail outlets
• Restaurants
• Hotels
• Healthcare
• Police custody / law court holding cells
• Prisons
• Travel companies (including airports)
• Events companies.

Why should you support customers and clients with food sensitivities?

• Reactions are serious and frightening; they can result in lasting damage or death.
• Reputation – getting this wrong can have serious repercussions on your brand. Making it easy and safe for your customers and clients can bring multiple benefits.
• Legal compliance – there are several regulations that you need to comply with.

Food labelling and legislation

Legislation on food labelling and consumer information varies between countries and you should use this as a minimum.

In the European Union and the UK, the legislation is very similar and has been in place since December 2014. It requires businesses to label all pre-packed for direct sale (PPDS) with a full list of ingredients and specific ingredients marked in bold. PPDS products include items such as pre-packed sandwiches and wraps, deli counter items such as cheeses that are wrapped and ready to serve.

Menus and package labelling

In the UK, legislation under the authority of the Food Standards Agency (Food Standards Agency), requires caterers to provide information on the key 14 ingredients for consumers. These must be easily accessible to customers and consumers.

These are often seen in bold on menus or in separate folders which must be made available to consumers. Unfortunately, they rarely include information on ingredients for people who need to avoid different ingredients.

The 14 key ingredients are:

• Celery
• Cereals containing gluten (wheat, rye, barley, oats)
• Crustaceans (prawns, crabs, lobsters)
• Eggs
• Fish
• Lupin
• Milk
• Molluscs (mussels, oysters)
• Mustard
• Peanuts
• Sesame
• Soybeans
• Sulphur dioxide and sulphites
• Tree nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, Brazil nuts, cashews, pecans, pistachios, macadamia nuts).

The UK’s Food Standards Agency has more information on food labelling.

Events

Does your organisation arrange or host events for customers and clients?

These often cause additional challenges and stress for people with food sensitivities. This is because:

• Communication with the caterer beforehand is usually through a third party who may not appreciate the importance of the food sensitivity.
• Information is not passed on correctly, or at all, to the caterer, or in time for them to prepare.
• Increased risk of cross-contamination, especially if the host site is not where the food is being prepared.
• Serving staff at buffets cannot give a full list of ingredients on request as the food is prepared off-site.
• Use of temporary or agency waiting staff who have not had full allergy-awareness training.
• Other customers or clients take the meal by mistake.

Good communication systems, training, policies and procedures should prevent most or all of the above.

Policies, procedures, contracts, and communication

• Does your organisation have policies and procedures that include how to support customers and clients who have food sensitivities? Do these include especially complex or unusual sensitivities (those that are not included in the 14 key ingredients above)?
• Do they include ‘out of hours’ provisions? If you operate a 24-hour service, you need to cater for dietary restrictions outside normal office hours. This is especially important where the client or customer cannot choose and purchase their own food – for example, hospitals, prisons, airports, and remote workplaces.
• Do you let customers and clients know that you have ‘alternatives’ available before they travel? For example, what you sell and ingredients where possible? How do you let your customers know and have you tested that it works?
• How can customers and clients contact you about their dietary requirements? How easy is it for them to find this information?
• If a travel company such as a cruise company, airline, train or coach – how can you ensure that your customers can safely access food? This is especially important for long distance travel and delays.
• How do you communicate these to staff, especially agency staff or those who are not directly involved with catering, such as custody officers, cabin crew, events staff?
• When procuring external services, do you ask about how they manage diverse dietary requests?
• Do you ask for feedback from customers and clients about their experiences?

Vending machines

These are often seen in places where there are no 24-hour catering facilities, and for most people they work well. They are rarely suitable for people with food sensitivities because they cannot see the ingredient lists prior to purchasing an item.

There can also be cross-contamination risks, especially if they are not cleaned thoroughly between use. For example, powered milk contamination in a hot drinks machine.

Vending machines should not be the only form of catering in areas where there are no nearby shops, people cannot leave, or bring their own food.

Safe medication storage and use

• Anaphylaxis medication is given by injection. People at risk should always carry this. They may also carry other medication to treat reactions such as inhalers. They may need somewhere safe and secure to store these while at your premises.
• A plan should be agreed with the individual on an appropriate solution, especially if they cannot have immediate access to their medication in an emergency.
• It may be sensible to provide training on allergy awareness and how to give life-saving adrenaline to someone in need.

Further information

Business Disability Forum

• Introduction to food sensitivities
• Supporting employees with food sensitivities
• Advice Service – Members and Partners can contact us for guidance on specific questions.

NHS

• NHS guidance on anaphylaxis.
• NHS guidance on coeliac.

Other sources

• Allergy UK.
• Anaphylaxis UK.
• Coeliac UK.
• Food Standards Agency.