How To Accommodate People With Food Allergies
Any food service will eventually have to ask themselves this question: How am I going to handle food allergies? Lots of people deal with a food allergy every single day, every single meal, for their entire life. You’re guaranteed to get lots of questions about food allergens and preparation methods, so you should, at the very least, educate yourself about food allergies so that you can help keep these people safe. Beyond that, you’ll need to decide for yourself how far you’re willing to go to accommodate them.
Learn the Most Common Allergies
Dairy, eggs, tree nuts, peanuts, shellfish, fish, soy, and wheat. These are the culprits behind most food allergies and sensitivities. For some food trucks, accommodating people with allergies to these items could be as simple as changing out your soy sauce, offering gluten-free buns, or switching to oat milk. For others, it’s nearly impossible to eliminate all 8 allergens. However, even if you can only accommodate people with allergies to one or two of these foods, you will still go a long way toward providing more dining-out options for a lot of people.
Don’t Cross Contaminate
If you choose to provide allergen-free options, it’s important to understand that these items can easily be contaminated if they’re exposed to the same equipment as allergen-containing foods. This means that your allergen-free options need to be stored, prepared, and cooked on separate equipment. When preparing these foods, you should also put on a fresh pair of gloves. If it’s impossible for you to take these safety measures, don’t advertise your food as allergen-free.
Label Allergen-Free Items
If you do serve food or provide options that are allergen-free, be sure to make it known! Adding simple symbols to your menu indicating that a food is dairy free or gluten free, for example, will make navigating your menu much easier for people with allergies. It’s hard to overestimate how happy this simple step will make these customers.
Of course, you may not be able to accommodate people with food allergies. However, if you can drop a few of the most common allergens without any major modifications, you will significantly increase your potential customer base. Whether you go allergy-free or not, the most important thing is to clearly indicate that. Doing so will keep your customers safe and you out of trouble.
Of course, every food truck owner hopes that they will never face a lawsuit. However, it can happen to anyone. Click here to find out how to handle potential suits. And after that, make sure your info is up to date on the Where’s The Foodtruck app. You definitely don’t want to miss out on business because people can’t find you!
