The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) in partnership with the Greater Gwent Food Group and Trading Standards Wales has released several new translations of the popular “Allergen Awareness Resources”.
The resources provide crucial guidance to businesses operating in the food and hospitality industries, covering the dangers of food allergens and the potentially catastrophic consequences they can have. The resources provide comprehensive regulatory advice encompassing allergen ingredient management, food information and labelling rules.
The guidance was originally launched in September 2021, just before “Natasha’s Law” came into force. This law is named after Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, who tragically suffered a fatal allergic reaction after eating an ‘artichoke, olive and tapenade’ baguette purchased at Pret a Manger. Only 15 years old, Natasha had a sesame allergy and didn’t know that sesame seeds had been prebaked into the bread.
To take account of the diversity of those working in the UK’s food and hospitality sectors, the guidance was originally published in English, Welsh, Bengali, Cantonese, Kurdish, Mandarin, Punjabi, Turkish and Urdu. Now they are available in four additional languages: Bulgarian, Hungarian, Romanian, and Polish.
The resources, devised by consumer protection experts, will improve knowledge and awareness of food allergens for those operating in the food and hospitality sector. Ultimately, this will help to prevent tragic events in the future.
Regrettably, deaths from hypersensitive reaction to food do occur. Only recently Tania Kaur Khasriya, a student from Ealing, died after eating a meal containing peanuts while dining in a restaurant in Southall in 2018. She died four years later after never regaining consciousness.
John Herriman, Chief Executive for CTSI, said: “Businesses must understand the importance of allergens and accurate food labelling and take the proper steps to avoid cross contamination. There is a wonderful diversity in the UK food industry and this calls on us to make materials accessible to every community, and I am proud that eastern European languages have been added to the already extensive list of materials.
“Businesses must comply with the law because it can literally mean the difference between life and death. By expanding these materials into more languages, we can reach an ever-widening group of businesses, hopefully lowering the risks for consumers.”
Nathan Barnhouse, Director of Food Standards Agency in Wales said: “I am delighted that the Food Standards Agency in Wales has contributed funds to enhance this important allergen resource. The control of allergen information is a vital part of ensuring the food we eat is safe. Providing this multilingual resource will enable food businesses to better understand their responsibilities and the addition of four languages will further reduce the likelihood of language being a barrier to gaining that awareness. I would like to congratulate the Greater Gwent Food Group on the further development of such a valuable training tool.”
Dilys Harris, Senior Trading Standards Officer, Caerphilly County Borough Council, on behalf of the Greater Gwent Food Group said: “We are thrilled to introduce four new languages to our multi-lingual allergen resource, made possible with support from the Food Standards Agency and Trading Standards Wales. The resource is accessible to local authorities across Wales, England and Northern Ireland and is suitable for food businesses, food law enforcement officers and educational establishments.
Consumers with a food hypersensitivity depend on businesses to exercise effective allergen management control and provide clear accurate information to enable them to make safe food choices. It is hoped this learning resource will help businesses to be allergy aware, assist them in complying with the law and in doing so help prevent avoidable deaths”.
Judith Parry, Chair of Trading Standards Wales said: “We are pleased to further promote this multilingual allergen resource which now incorporates 13 languages. It provides engaging, accessible learning material to assist the diverse range of food businesses that operate throughout Wales, comply with allergen regulatory requirements”.
The Chair of the CTSI Race & Equalities Working Group, Tendy Lindsay, who is also a respected member of the former Food Standards Agency’s Food Fraud Advisory Unit, said: “I’m pleased to see that four additional languages have been added to the Greater Gwent Food Group Food Allergen Resources, this is an excellent resource for consumer protection professionals, businesses and consumers. By making these crucial food allergen resources available in so many different languages it’s ensuring that the information will be understood throughout the UK’s diverse communities. Future awareness campaigns should use it as an example for engaging with the many different communities we serve.”
The resources are free and are hosted on the Chartered Trading Standards (CTSI) website.
Supporting videos can also be found on the CTSI YouTube channel.
More information about the Food Standards Agency can be found on their website: www.food.gov.uk
The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation can be found here: www.narf.org.uk [email protected]
