As part of Pineapple Recruitment’s ongoing industry engagement programme, the firm’s business manager Kasia Krieger recently had the opportunity at a client conference to sit down with Rachel Hodson-Hubbard, Director of Partnerships and Fundraising at the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation.
During the session, Kasia asked about the work the charity is doing to make allergy history by preventing and eradicating allergic disease, it’s future plans, next steps and how they are trying to create a safer world for those who currently suffer from allergies.
Kasia asked Rachel five key questions, the answers to which the whole food sector will find interesting and insightful.
- Hi Rachel. It’s amazing to have the opportunity to sit down with you. My first question is about education. With 1 in 13 children having food allergies, what more can be done to educate school catering staff / teachers and children?
Rachel – It’s wonderful to be here, thank you for asking me. New research by the NASUWT, the teachers’ union, in collaboration with The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, the UK’s food allergy charity, reveals that 95% of teachers now have children with food allergies in their school, yet 67% have had no allergy awareness training.
To tackle this in February this year we launched our new £1 million programme Allergy School. Allergy School aims to transform understanding of food allergies in schools so that children with food allergies feel empowered, included and protected.
Allergy School is a free, national programme for all nurseries, primary schools and out-of-school settings and groups in the UK that look after children between the ages of 3-11. It has been developed in partnership with The King’s Foundation, St John Ambulance, the children’s charity Coram Life Education and Tesco Stronger Starts.
Allergy School provides practical resources for educators and children to encourage greater awareness and understanding of food allergies.
The resources include five films for pupils and teachers, lesson plans and assembly packs for Key Stages 1 and 2, a self-assessment tool to allow schools to determine how allergy-inclusive they are and how they can improve the safety and well-being of their allergic pupils, and allergy training for teachers.
All the resources are free and available at www.AllergySchool.org.uk. We encourage every nursery, primary school and out-of-school setting to access the resources to help protect the children in their care.
- Your Allergy School initiative is a huge part of the education drive. What one thing do you hope it will achieve?
Rachel – We were honoured to receive a message of support for Allergy School from His Majesty The King which read: “I am delighted to hear of the launch of ‘Allergy School’, the new educational programme by The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation. Improving understanding of this issue is so important for keeping children with food allergies safe and ensuring they are able to participate fully in activities at school or in our wider communities”.
Allergy School is also supported by the Department of Education and included within their allergy guidance for schools.
Our aim is to transform understanding of food allergies in schools so that children with food allergies feel empowered, included and protected.
Almost two thirds of teachers who responded in the recent NASUWT survey said they would find it useful to have more training and resources for supporting children with food allergies in nursery and at school.
Allergy School will provide the support and training that teachers and educators need to help keep children within their care safe.
- Is enough being done to train teachers how to respond to an allergic reaction to food?
Rachel – Studies show around two children in every classroom has a food allergy, and 20% of food allergic reactions occur in schools. Hospital admissions for severe allergic reactions (anaphylaxis) to food have more than tripled in the last 20 years in the UK, with young people most likely to be affected.
However, one in five teachers has never been taught how to administer an adrenaline auto-injector which could save a life in a food allergy emergency, and almost two thirds (60%) don’t know or are unsure if their school even has an allergy policy.
We hear from teachers across the UK who want to access high quality, free training so they have the information and support they need to look after children in their care.
Allergy School addresses this. Our programme of free resources includes a film, made in partnership with St John’s Ambulances, that trains teachers how to respond to a food allergic reaction.
We hope all teachers across the UK access and use Allergy School so that children with food allergies feel empowered, included and protected.
- Do you feel that the current guidance around food labelling is working? Does it go far enough?
Rachel – Natasha’s Foundation was launched in June 2019 by Nadim and Tanya Ednan-Laperouse after their daughter Natasha died aged 15 from a severe allergic reaction to sesame. Natasha died after consuming a Pret a Manger baguette that had sesame seeds baked into the dough. However, the label did not mention this ingredient. The coroner’s verdict at Natasha’s inquest was clear had allergen information been on the baguette, Natasha would not have eaten it and would still be alive today.
Following a successful campaign by Nadim and Tanya Ednan-Laperouse, Natasha’s Law came into force across the UK in October 2021. This law required all food retailers to display full ingredient and allergen labelling on every food item made on the premises and pre-packed for direct sale.
The response to Natasha’s Law has been overwhelmingly positive and the food-allergic community feels much safer eating food covered by the law.
However, there is much more to do. The FSA recently issued new guidelines for food businesses to provide written allergen information for non-pre-packed food, such as meals in restaurants. However, this is only guidance and not mandatory, which we believe leaves people with food allergies still facing too much uncertainty and risk when eating out. The guidelines are a step in the right direction but as it is only voluntary guidance it will be down to individual food businesses to choose if they decide to introduce the guidance or not.
- Thank you, Rachel. The final question now! With over 20 million people in the UK living with an allergy
disorder (many of them school age) do you feel more should be done to promote conversations around food allergies within school catering firms?
Rachel – Food allergy is not a choice or a preference, it is a serious and unpredictable disease that can cause a potentially life-threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis.
At least six per cent of adults in the UK have a diagnosed food allergy – that’s 2.4 million adults living with a food allergy in this country. These figures do not take into account children, who generally have twice the rate of food allergy compared with adults.
To help food allergic children and adults stay safe it is essential that we all continue to promote conversations about food allergies both within the education system and without. School catering firms play an important role within this conversation as they serve millions of meals to children every day.
We hope that Allergy School will help facilitate these conversations by empowering teachers and educators with essential knowledge about food allergies so that children in their care feel empowered, included and protected.
About the author
A respected commentator on a wide range of industry-related issues and trends, Kasia Krieger is the business manager at Pineapple Recruitment. For further information readers can email Kasia through [email protected]. Readers can also connect with Kasia on LinkedIn through https://www.linkedin.com/in/kasia-krieger-698285232/
For more information, readers and followers can visit www.pineapple-recruitment.co.uk
The Foundation’s official website is available through https://www.narf.org.uk/