New food training for businesses hopes to protect customers with allergies

Business Lincolnshire and Lincolnshire Trading Standards have launched an online training video to help make businesses aware of their responsibilities around allergens. 

The Government introduced tougher new laws on food allergens after the death of 15-year-old Natasha Ednan-Laperouse. Natasha sadly died after unknowingly eating sesame in a sandwich she bought in an airport coffee shop in 2016. These new labelling rules became widely known as Natasha’s Law, came into effect in 2021.

The new training video aims to highlight the importance of accurate allergen labelling and the laws that apply to food businesses of all types.

Angela Kane, Senior Lincolnshire Trading Standards Officer, works with Business Lincolnshire to provide advice to local businesses. She said:

“If you work in a food business, allergen training is crucial. This video training provides a valuable update and reminder to Lincolnshire’s food businesses and their staff about the importance of accurate food allergen information.

“Sadly, Natasha Ednan-Laperouse’s story is not the only one of its kind, and there have been numerous deaths in the UK of customers suffering anaphylaxis after eating something they didn’t know contained an ingredient they were allergic to.

“Lincolnshire Trading Standards does inspect food businesses to make sure there aren’t undeclared allergens in the food they serve. But we’d much rather business owners train their staff up and not ever run the risk of giving one of their customers a severe allergic reaction.”

You can watch the training video now on the Business Lincolnshire YouTube channel, here.

For further business advice, contact the team by visiting: www.businesslincolnshire.com/contact.