a uniquechild
result, special diets for allergies require verycareful
management.
It should be stressed that we are not talkingabout food
intolerances, cultural or religiousdiets or simple food
preferences. However, alltoo often nurseries group these
categoriestogether as ‘special diets’.
Who’s responsible?Until recently it has been individuals who
havebeen in the dock accused of wilful neglect incare settings,
but, says Felicity Gerry fromHalsbury Law Exchange, “It’s only a
matter of
time before we see the first cases of earlyyears providers being
charged withcorporate manslaughter. Nutrition is tippedto be one of
the critical elements which willfeature in this type of case.”
Professor GarySlapper, Head of Law at the OpenUniversity agrees,
adding, “The law oncorporate manslaughter is especiallyimportant
nowadays”.
This is not about individuals deliberatelyneglecting children;
it’s about organisationsnot equipping or training their staff
toprovide adequate care. Systems, procedures
TeachNursery.com 67
Mismanaged food allergies are a ticking timebomb for early years
settings and the childrenthey care for, warns Grub4Life’s Nigel
Denby...
What’s going on in yourA
s an early years provider youare already facing squeezedmargins
and increasingcompetition, so litigationover mistakes made as
part
of food preparation is the last thing youneed added to your
business mix.
It’s a simple fact that the greater thenumber of special diets
you produce, thegreater the risk there is of an error beingmade.
But poor management of foodallergies is a business threat that’s
yet to beacknowledged by hundreds of early yearsproviders. These
settings are essentiallyleaving their businesses wide open
toaccusations of neglect, and potentialprosecutions. The risks stem
from poorlydefined policies and procedures aroundhow food allergies
are managed within thesetting. Food allergies affect
approximatelyfive per cent of children under five, andcan be fatal.
Children have died in nurseryfrom the mismanagement of their food
(ahigh-profile case occurred back in 2003 –see ow.ly/slNwi);
anaphylactic reactionsoccur quickly and can be triggered by
theminutest of contacts with allergens. As a
kitchen?
Nigel Denby - Nutrition_Layout 1 07/02/2014 15:39 Page 3
■ have a clear screening for food allergy atenrolment, and
request written food allergydiagnosis from a health professional;■
have a food allergy policy;■ have trained all of your staff in
theimportance of managing food allergy;■ have trained cooks in
managing foodingredients for allergy-safe diets;■ have used the
food allergy policy andtraining to adapt your menus to
accommodatefood allergies;■ have used it to construct standard
recipeswith allergy adaptations?
The list goes on, and while it may appearoverwhelming, help is
at hand. The vast majorityof the elements that go into good food
andnutrition provision for food allergies rely upongood
housekeeping, common sense and, wherenecessary, support from
specialists.
Nutrition and foodallergiesChildren with food allergies have
exactly the samenutritional requirements as children who don’t.
Ifyou remove a whole food from the diet, you mustreplace the
nutrients the food provides. You needto know every possible source
of allergen – someare very obvious, but others are not.
Allergen-safe meals need to look as similaras possible to the
non-allergen-safe meal. It’sconsidered best practice that children
withallergies should not be separated or singledout in any way from
other children.
Managing food allergies effectively is largelyabout
confidence.
■ You and your staff need to be confident inyour understanding
of allergies.■ You need to be confident to challenge parents
68 TeachNursery.com
There will always be settings thatfeel they don’t need to
acquire thisexpertise; it’s only a matter of timebefore one of them
is held to account
MEDPACOrganising the storage of yourchildren’s medications is
vital.Medpacs allow you to storeemergency and prescribedmedications
safely. Each Medpaccomes complete with a photo IDcard and a
treatment card, onwhich you can write essentialinformation on how
to administermedications, saving time in anemergency. Call 0845
0739430 orvisit medpac.co.uk
and policies or the lack of them will form theessential evidence
in cases of corporate liability.
How at risk is yoursetting?Commercially it’s important that your
settingcaters for children who need special diets forreligious and
cultural reasons. You will also,doubtless, have children who have
foodintolerances and many children with foodpreferences. You can
cater for all of thesechildren. But, it’s commercial suicide for
your staffif they confuse children with a ‘preference’ withchildren
who suffer from a true food allergy.
So, here lies the first dilemma: how can yoursetting be
accommodating to all dietary needswhile minimising the risk to your
business?Preparing menus and recipes without pork, orcatering for
children who don’t like tomatoes isa very different process to
catering for childrenwho are allergic to cow’s milk protein.
The first thing to assess is how many specialdiets your nursery
caters for. As stated, thegreater the number of special diets
youproduce, the greater the risk of an error beingmade and a
tragedy occurring – it’s thatsimple. A nursery preparing dozens of
specialdiets every day is a disaster waiting to happen.
Think about your own practice. Do you groupall your special
diets together? If you do that’sthe first thing to change! Find out
how manyspecial diets are for children with true foodallergies.
That will allow you to identify exactlywhich allergies you are
currently dealing with.Then you can adapt menus and recipes,
screeningredients for hidden allergens and identify thestaff
requiring the most immediate training.
Once you have looked at the immediate risk,you need to consider
a longer-term strategy.Can your setting demonstrate that you:
who confuse allergy with food preference.■ You need to have the
confidence to ask forappropriate evidence of food allergy
diagnosisfor your records, and to speak to healthprofessionals
where necessary.■ Your cooks need to be confident in
adaptingrecipes, and in preparing nutritionally completemeals for
children with allergies.■ Your care staff need to be confident
aboutprocedures and policies for serving childrenwith
allergies.
However, being confident in your food allergyprovision is no
longer good enough – without athorough and measurable process
behind thatprovision, a setting effectively has no standard atall.
Nurseries that get it right have the opportunityto demonstrate
their expertise in early yearsnutrition to their clients and
external agencies.You can market this as an excellent USP in
youradvertising and to your insurers, demonstratingthat you are a
lower-risk insurance prospect.
Managing childhood food allergiesappropriately requires
expertise; it is asimportant as child education, child safety
andchild protection. There will always be somesettings that remain
complacent and feel thatthey don’t need to acquire this expertise.
It’sonly a matter of time before one of them is heldto account for
neglecting their duty of care.
findout moreIf you have been working on foodprojects in your
nursery, or if youwould like to hear about howGrub4Life can support
you inmanaging food allergies moreeffectively,
[email protected]
RESOURCE TROLLEY
NIGEL DENBY, GRUB4LIFE
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