Safer Food, Better Business (SFBB) is designed to help businesses comply with food hygiene regulations and it also gives guidance on food safety management procedures. Due to the increase of people suffering from allergies and this being young children aswell the importance of becoming more aware of allergies is highly important within the early years sector. A high proportion of children are admitted to hospital with allergic reactions which can be very distressing for both parent and child. Leading on from increase there became a new EU law that came into effect in Dec 2014 which concentrates heavily on the way businesses serve and prepare food.
The Safer Food Better Business document is essential to all early years providers and it contains documents displaying the symptoms of a allergic reaction and it provides employers with ways to prevent this from happening . The document gives clear clarification on which ingredients are going into the food that is being given to the children, it provides a helpful guide on what to do and what to look out for if a child could be allergic to a particular food.
Here are the 14 specific types of food ingredients that are listed in the EU food law that you must declare if they are present in the food you serve:
- cereals containing gluten, eg wheat (including spelt and khorasan), rye, barley and oats and their hybridised strains
- crustaceans, eg prawns, crab and lobster
- eggs
- fish
- peanuts
- soybeans
- milk
- nuts, eg almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, pecan nuts, Brazil nuts, pistachio, cashew, macadamia nuts or Queensland nuts
- celery (including celeriac)
- mustard
- sesame
- sulphur dioxide/sulphites (preservatives used in some foods and drinks) at levels above 10mg per kg or per litre
- lupin
- molluscs, eg clams, mussels, whelks oysters, snails and squid
If you have never witnessed a child with a allergic reaction it can be difficult to know what to look out for, here is a list of some of the symptoms
- stuffy or runny noses
- sneezing
- itchy, watery eyes
- swelling
- rash
- stomach cramps
- diarrhoea
more severe symptoms
- difficulty breathing, may be wheezy aswell
- swelling of the lips, tongue or throat
- hives- child may be constantly itching
- dizziness or faintness
- nausea or vomiting
- anaphylactic shock
If a child displays any of the severe symptoms then medical help is required immediately.
As this can be life threatening food safety should be paramount in early years setting, this is to help prevent children from suffering from these allergic reactions. As The Safer Food Better Business document complies with food safety and hygiene regulations it is employees responsibility to comply with all these regulations and ensure everything is documented.