If you keep up with restaurant news, you may have noticed the recent onslaught of stories about food allergies. Their increasing prevalence, their potential deadliness, and the litigation that ensues after a terrible incident occurs. All of this can leave restaurant owners and general managers feeling trepidacious and vulnerable, especially when a diner comes in and declares a food allergy. How secure do you feel when you hear those two little, yet serious, words? Want some assurance? Get training!
While it’s true that most states don’t currently require restaurant staff to receive training on how to safely serve food allergic diners and those with celiac disease, there’s really no reason to wait says Lauren Garvey, an Assistant Attorney at RUSSO & TONER, LLP. “Regulations often start out less-restrictive and become more restrictive and more protective over time. As food allergies continue to increase among the population, we’re starting to see an uptick in food allergy regulations and lawsuits. Restaurants might as well get ahead of this trend and prepare now for the likely inevitable legislation regarding food allergies.”
In addition to being prepared for the expected legislation, food service establishments have a responsibility to their patrons to ensure their safety while dining. Unfortunately, without universal staff training, restaurants are leaving themselves extremely vulnerable to what can be a potentially fatal mistake. In a 2011 study published in Clinical and Experimental Allergy, 162 food service professionals were questioned regarding their confidence level in serving food allergic patrons. While survey respondents reported feeling “very” or “somewhat” confident, nearly all had some dangerous misconceptions. Some of the more common misconceptions included the belief that water could dilute an allergen and make a reaction less likely (38%), that a small amount of an allergen was safe to consume (23%), that removing an allergen from a finished meal would make the food safe to eat (21%) and that cooking an allergen thoroughly would make the food safe to eat (16%). If these statistics scare you, well they should!
According to Garvey, “While I’m only licensed to provide legal advice in New York and Illinois, generally speaking all states are subject to liability under the common law, which requires that restaurants take reasonable steps to protect their customers’ health and safety. Not providing staff training on the proper handling of special dietary foods exposes restaurants to potential civil claims under a theory of negligence. Depending on the severity of the customer’s injury, a civil case may resolve at upwards of a million dollars and may cause insurance premiums to increase.” She advises that restaurants invest in food allergy training to prevent a horrible incident from occurring rather than waiting and scrambling to educate their staff after a catastrophic injury occurs. She goes on to say that “If, God forbid, a customer does have a catastrophic allergic reaction in a restaurant and litigation ensues, evidence that the restaurant went above what was required and invested in comprehensive allergy training will help boost the image of the restaurant in the eyes of the jury. While this might not be enough to get the restaurant off the hook, it will certainly go a long way towards showing the jury that this restaurant went above and beyond what was required to create a safe dining experience for its customers. In short, it shows the jury that the restaurant cared, and increases the restaurants credibility in the eyes of the jurors.”
Luckily, MenuTrinfo®’s got you covered! Not only does MenuTrinfo® have the only food allergy specific ANSI accredited training program in the country with its AllerTrain™ and AllerTrain Lite™ certificate programs, MenuTrinfo® also offers AllerSTAR™ – a monthly ongoing training program for food service establishments to train their staff on specific food allergy related topics each month. Doing your due diligence and providing your staff training on the proper protocol for safely serving diners with special dietary needs is imperative in today’s market, with that importance only growing. 15 million Americans today suffer from food allergies. A recent report released from the CDC noted that food allergy prevalence has increased by 50% from 1997 to 2011. With food allergies already affecting so many, getting your staff trained now will put you ahead of the eventual legislation, ahead of your competitors and ahead should an unforeseen allergy related situation occur.
