Allergen Awareness Week
In an average UK school class size of 30 children, one to two children have a food allergy, and 20% of severe allergic reactions happen in schools. Children with allergies often feel distanced from their peers and 32% report being bullied. So how can schools support children with food allergies?
As educators and food providers it is vital that we plan together to keep our pupils safe and provide environments where every single child feels included and can thrive.
Managing food allergies in schools
Sodexo has strict processes for managing food allergies in schools that means we adhere to all requirements of the Food Information for Consumers Regulation 2014 and Natasha’s Law and go beyond it to ensure our teams are allergen aware in everything they do. Yet only by working closely with schools and parents can we gain the full picture needed to keep children safe.
At the start of term, each school provides a list of children with allergies and we cater specifically for that child’s school meal needs. Where there are complex diets and children have multiple allergies we have dieticians to support the teams in creating a suitable menu.
There is a lot we can do as school caterers, but nothing works in isolation. It is a collective responsibility with the schools to provide a safe meal for every child with an allergy.
We are acutely aware of the potential pressure felt by school catering teams preparing and serving food. Sodexo arms them with the knowledge they need to prepare safe meals, including robust allergen procedures, training and allergen champions at each school. All teams carry out a pre-service briefing so everyone is up to speed with the menu, the ingredients and the children with allergens dining that day.
Engaging with employees around food allergies in schools
We complement all our traditional training by connecting Sodexo people to real-life stories showing the impact just a moment’s lapse of concentration in the kitchen can potentially have.
The 14 allergens are well known, but you can be allergic to anything and we bring that out in personal stories from families living with food allergies.
To help build confidence, we highlight and celebrate those colleagues approaching allergy management in a positive way, and as second nature rather than something to be feared. We always provide support and say ‘if you don’t know what to do, stop and ask for advice, even if you have a queue of children in front of you.'
As members of Anaphylaxis UK, we participate in their business forums, webinars, training and education. Simon Williams, Chief Executive of Anaphylaxis UK has also attended our internal events to speak to the team about best practice when managing allergens.
A whole school approach
20% of anaphylactic reactions happen at school, and these can occur in children with no prior history of food allergies. 79% - 83% of severe food allergic reactions occurred in the classroom.
Engagement from parents, teachers, and school staff is essential to support those children affected by allergies. With cooperation and communication key factors in making school meals inclusive.
The importance of partnership working with schools is greatest when it comes to making sure the right meal goes to the right child. Methods must be in place to identify those pupils requiring special meals so they are not given the wrong food.
Parents put their trust in us and in the school. We often have 100s of pupils coming through our dining rooms in a lunch hour and we can’t have the process fall down at point of service by not giving the correct meal to the right child.
Communication to manage allergies safely
Effective communication is essential to manage allergies safely. Parents, school staff, and catering staff must all work together to support children with dietary needs. Clear channels of communication to update and request information must be established and schools play in important role in ensuring all parties stay accurately informed.
We write to our clients on an annual basis to review allergen processes and information to ensure that we have the most up to date allergen information for all pupils and make sure that we have the parental consent to hold this information to allow us to safely serve their children’s meals. Even when we know a pupil has an allergy, it’s important to routinely check with parents to see if there are any changes.
We also take this opportunity to share valuable resources from ourselves and partners, including, Allergy UK and the Anaphylaxis UK’s ‘Model Policy for Allergy Management at School’. This template policy can be used to help schools develop their policy and can be downloaded free of charge from the Allergy UK website.
As well as the new FREE resources from the Natasha Foundation called Allergy School which includes resources to help teachers create inclusive and safe environments for children with food allergies.
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