Hospitality workers trained to understand allergies
The number of restaurant diners suffering food-induced anaphylaxis is on the rise with more Australians suffering from food allergies.
It’s become a severe problem and it’s estimated that fatalities from food-induced allergic reactions in Australia have been increasing by around 10 per cent each year.
As a result, Sydney chef Alex Herbert has introduced a new online training course for hospitality workers.
It’s a website offering hospitality workers free online allergy training.
Ms Herbert said the key to lessening the number of allergic reactions was to cut out cross contaminations.
And the only way that would happen, she said, would be if chefs learned how to prepare food.
"So that you know [when] you're cutting your fish on a fresh chopping board, that when you go into the heat of service and you suddenly get a docket up that says allergy to nuts, you can safely say 'yes, I can serve this fish'," Ms Herbert told the ABC.
She said anaphylaxis was not just frightening for the sufferers.
It was also traumatic for those who might have inadvertently fed people the wrong food.
"It is terrifying for people around, because there is a sense of helplessness," she told the ABC.
"But also there's a sense of what could we have done better, and with then with that comes a feeling of guilt."
Allergy specialist Associate Professor Richard Loh said the website was an important development.
"This is the first in the world where you've got a free, online training module that has got the best information, [and] it's standardised … using evidence based material," Professor Loh told the ABC.
"Anything we can do to help improve education and awareness will reduce the risk to our patients who are at risk of allergic reactions.
"Eating is an essential part of our lives, but for people with allergies it's sometimes a moment of dread thinking, 'am I going to throw up or swell up, or am I actually going out to eat and potentially having a fatal reaction?'"
by Leon Gettler, July 21st 2017
