Restaurant staff questioned about allergen management

Researchers at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, surveyed various personnel at 100 restaurants and food establishments using a structured questionnaire and found that only 42 percent of staff had undergone food allergy training.

While those surveyed expressed a relatively high comfort level in providing and even guaranteeing safe meals to allergic consumers, of greatest concern were the numerous misconceptions disclosed in the survey. These included 24 percent of survey participants believing that consuming a small amount of an allergen is safe for allergic consumers, 35 percent thought the heat of the fryer would destroy allergens and 25 percent believed the removal of an allergen from a finished meal (for example taking the cheese out of a salad) was a safe practice. In the USA, food allergy registries indicate that reactions in restaurants accounted for up to 25 percent of accidental exposures in persons with peanut and tree nut allergies, and a number of fatal food reactions were triggered by food obtained in a food service establishment.

Full citation: R Ahuja and SH Sicherer. Food-allergy management from the perspective of restaurant and food establishment personnel. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 2007;98:344-348.