New allergens awareness book to help food handlers

With the impact of allergens in food continuing to make the news, a new book is aiming to provide food handlers with authoritative guidance and reassurance.

Food Allergen Awareness and Control in Catering: Handbook for food handlers and managers has been authored by three of the UK’s top food safety experts and offers food handlers clear and simple advice on allergens legislation and how to keep customers safe.

Providing a summary of key topics such as purchasing, storage and preparation to ‘front-of’ controls, allergen policies and communication with customers, the book is ideal for supervisors or managers and can be used by those training for an allergen qualification or those who simply need to refresh their knowledge.

The 28-page handbook has been published by Highfield Products and written by Richard Sprenger, author of the best-selling books Hygiene for Management and The Food Safety Handbook, leading food safety expert Judith Hutchinson and Euan MacAuslan, Principal Training Officer (Environmental Health Training ) at The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

Euan MacAuslan said, ‘The easy to read format will help catering employers and their employees understand what they should be doing to reduce the risks of food allergen contamination and to protect their consumers. The consequences of failure raise the probability of prosecution, or even worse, the unnecessary death of an individual who has eaten contaminated food in a business. The handbook is ideal for food allergen control training and as a reference while working in a catering business.’

Chris Sprenger, Highfield Managing Director, said, ‘Allergens continue to be a major risk issue for any business serving food. With the threat of harm to customers, not to mention the possibility of prosecution and reputational damage, it is more important than ever that restaurants and places to eat take every available precaution’.

Food Allergen Awareness and Control in Catering: Handbook for food handlers and managers is available from Highfield Products at https://www.highfieldproducts.com/products/food-allergen-awareness-and-control-catering.

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