Dear Parents
Re: Allergy/Intolerance Information.
At Seaford College, we have always taken our responsibility for the wellbeing of our students in every area as our highest priority. You may be aware that, for the last eight and a half years, we have entrusted the delivery of our catering services to Holroyd Howe, a leading provider of food services to independent schools.
Holroyd Howe’s number one priority is the safety of the children for whom they provide meals. Under the Food Information Regulations 2014, it is their legal obligation to provide accurate allergen information about the foods that they produce. To do this, they have developed excellent in-house practices and procedures which are reviewed regularly in line with the legislation as well as their experiences across the wider catering industry. Holroyd Howe, as a matter of best practice, have recently taken the opportunity to review and update those processes and will be rolling them out next term.
Holroyd Howe have created their ‘Allergy and Intolerance Management Guide' which provides the onsite catering manager and the catering team with a clear approach to the management of allergies and intolerances. To do this they have introduced a risk-based colour coding system to identify special diets. The categories of special diet are listed below:
RED – Student has had a severe reaction/ anaphylactic shock
AMBER – Student has an allergy or intolerance
BLUE – Student excludes foods due to preference, for example religious preference
Where Holroyd Howe cater for children with a special diet in the red category, a freshly prepared pre-plated meal will be provided for them. It is strongly recommended that, for students falling within this category, a meeting or telephone call is arranged between the catering manager and the parent/guardian to discuss the child’s food requirements in more detail.
There are at least two ‘Allergy Champions’ available at each service; these employees are specifically trained to give allergy advice to students and to answer any questions they may have. Students who receive a plated meal should collect their food from the Allergy Champion. The Allergy Champions can be identified during service as they will be wearing a pink ‘ask me about allergen’ badge.
The catering team can only act based on the accuracy of the information that is provided so it is essential that you provide us with up-to-date and accurate medical information informing us of your child’s allergies or intolerances and any changes that may occur.
The Seaford College/Holroyd Howe food allergy and intolerance form is available here. This form is designed to collect information about students who have allergies/intolerances so that they can be catered for appropriately within the school.