Allergy Awareness: Put it on the Menu

Food allergies aren't going anywhere. In fact, they're increasing. About 2% of adults and 6% of children have a true food allergy, according to research done by the Mayo Clinic (www.mayoclinic.com). Short of a customer walking into your restaurant wearing a shirt announcing she has a peanut allergy - yes, there actually is a company that makes these shirts - there has to be a way for everyone to know the risks and have your customer served a great meal that's safe.

First, any customer with a food allergy or intolerance should inform the waitstaff or manager of the issue upon arrival. Even if that customer is ordering a steak, baked potato and asparagus, there could be an allergen in a marinade on food cooked on the same grill. "We have to educate people that a molecule of peanut can kill someone," stressed Ming Tsai, owner of Blue Ginger in Wellesley, Mass., and a proponent of food allergy awareness in restaurants.

Tsai has been working with the Massachusetts Senate for the last three years to get Bill No. 136 passed, which would require three actions taken by restaurants: a poster prominently display for staff regarding food allergy awareness (see insert), a notice on all menus about the customer's obligation to inform the server about any food allergies, and restaurants with a seating capacity of 50 or more must have and maintain on the premises a master list of all ingredients used in the preparation of each food item and the master list must be provided to any customer upon request. The bill also requires that a person in charge of food at each establishment receive training concerning food allergies through video and written materials designed in collaboration with the Massachusetts Restaurant Association and the Food Allergy and Anaphylactic Network (FAAN). For restaurants that don't feel they need to comply with these rules, according to the bill, "A violation of this section shall be subject to the remedies available under the state sanitary code for food establishments."

Less than a minute into a conversation with Tsai about food allergy awareness, his passion and energy is evident. Not just a restaurant owner dealing with these issues, his 7-year-old son is severely allergic to all nuts. "A chef's son with food allergies is not very funny, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise," Tsai joked. "I feel that this is common sense and so basic." The reference book, which he calls "The Bible," can simply be a three-ring binder with all of the restaurant's recipes listed. A spreadsheet with the eight major allergens (peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, eggs, milk, wheat, soy) can be used to check off which allergen, if any, are in each dish. For items that are not made in-house, labels can be photocopied and added to the book, since allergens are listed in bold type on labels. Tsai, who has had a reference book of recipes at Blue Ginger since before his son was born, explained, "A chef and GM can sit down and complete this book in three hours."

"We have to educate people that a
molecule of peanut can kill someone..."
- Ming Tsai

He is confident that the bill will be passed this year. "It's a long and slow process, but this time we have more support," Tsai noted. But getting it passed with the three suggested actions may prove difficult. "We're always trying to educate the industry on food allergies and it's the right thing to do," said Peter Christie, president of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association. "The difference between us and them is the wording on legislation. Is there room for improvement with food allergies? Absolutely."

Christie explained that the MRA agreed to add the notice on menus as well as displaying the posters, noting that it's a way of improving awareness of the issue. They also approved mandating a film created by the the FAAN and National Restaurant Association that covers about food allergies. However, it's the reference book that Christie has concerns with. "The Bible isn't the answer. I advise people to follow that example as a best practice and to have it on hand," he stressed. "The problem is that it focuses on the list, but you really don't know what's going on in the back of the house. And this can give people a false sense of security."

What both sides, meaning Tsai and Christie, agree on is how restaurant owners should handle customers with food allergies. "In this business, you want everyone's dollar, so you should be bending over backwards to make someone a special meal if they need it," said Tsai, who serves five to fifteen meals a day to customers with various food allergies. "I want to cater to everyone, and I want to serve everyone safely." And Christie echoes that: "We recommend for a manager to acknowledge the food allergy and talk to the guests. Once you realize the potential of danger that exists, you'll go to great means to not expose yourself to that danger."

Adding a notice to a menu or displaying a sign doesn't take much effort, but if the reference book is mandated, then chefs, owners and managers will need to sit down and go over everything created in the restaurant. "If you have this reference book system, you're showing due diligence. It's on a busy Saturday night when someone can forget an ingredient in a dessert," Tsai asserted. And according to Christie, "There's not a single restaurateur that wants anything different than the proponents do. They want their customers to eat in a safe environment and have a great experience." The potential passing of this bill, or a variation of it if the wordings and actions can not be agreed upon, will likely mean some big changes for restaurateurs - changes that some feel are a necessity and others deem a nuisance. Either way, this is one piece of legislation that we'll be following closely.