• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

Michelle's blog

Food allergy and food intolerance, freefrom foods, electrosensitivity, this and that...

  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • FreeFrom Food Awards
  • Foods Matter
  • Walks & Gardens
  • Salon Music
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • FreeFrom Food Awards
  • Foods Matter
  • Walks & Gardens
  • Salon Music

University caterers take up the challenge

03/09/2016 //  by Michelle Berridale Johnson//  2 Comments

TUCOIn my last sad blog about Livvy I also mentioned that following on from my talk at the TUCO (The University Caterers’ Organisation) conference there were several initiatives afoot to improve the provision of safe freefrom food for allergic and coeliac students starting university.

The issue, very briefly to reprise, is that going to uni for the first time is often also the first time that allergic or coeliac late teens may have had to cope with their allergy or their coeliac disease on their own. Added to the general newness and scariness of the whole university experience and their understandable desire to be ‘one of the crowd’ and not some weirdo for ever fussing about what they eat, the temptation to take sometimes dangerous risks with their food can be very great. My suggestion was that university caterers could really help them by offering not only a well trained and sympathetic member of staff to discuss their needs but, more importantly, plenty of good, tasty and very well signed freefrom/allergen-free food. This would allow them to find safe and tasty things to eat with minimum fuss and hassle if they stayed on campus. And if that food could be exciting, interesting and good value, then maybe their non allergic friends would be tempted to stay on campus and eat with them too.

Anyhow, following on from my suggestions, TUCO themselves are now looking at offering an allergen accreditation to university caterers who go out of their way not just to tick the allergen boxes but to offer a really thoughtful and supportive service to their allergic student customers. How great would that be?

Manchester MetropolitanMeanwhile, Jacqui McPeake of Manchester Metropolitan University (who introduced the talk I gave at TUCO) is going one further.

Not only is she arranging for special stands at Freshers Week to encourage allergic or coeliac students to come and talk to them but she hopes that will allow them to move forward to set up Allergy Focus groups for students meet with the catering staff to share ideas and be offered support.

Even more inventive, she has challenged her own team to eliminate at least one of the 14 major allergens from their diet for one month as from the 1st September! The idea is not only to raise awareness among her own staff of what it is actually like living with an allergy or on a restricted diet, but, while they are at it, to raise some money for Allergy UK’s support services. She asked for 14 volunteers – and when I last heard from her a couple of weeks ago, she already had 20!

If you feel like supporting them financially, please do, but even if you want your support to be moral rather than monetary – please do check in to their Just Giving page and ‘share’ the story.

All Saints Snack Bar at Manchester Metropolitan
All Saints Snack Bar at Manchester Metropolitan

And hopefully the Schools, Colleges and Universities category of the FreeFrom Eating Out Awards will encourage university caterers yet further to really focus on this group of students. As I pointed out in my talk, helping their allergic/coeliac or food challenged students is obviously hugely important and very much part of their remit – but…

With the massive growth in popularity of freefrom food (it is reckoned that nearly half UK households now buy freefrom food fairly regularly if not exclusively) having a really good freefrom offer could bring them good business from prospective customers who were interested in eating freefrom even though they might not need to. A double reward for their efforts!

23rd September.

Update on the Manchester Metropolitan University ‘go freefrom’ challenge. Jacqui says:

We have currently raised £790 for Allergy UK and the team are still eliminating their allergens from their diet. Only one person has “resigned” from the campaign as he said he doesn’t feel too well on his restricted diet – he has cut out gluten!! He is missing his bacon butties I suspect. However he did the challenge for 2 weeks and he found it really difficult which was the aim of the exercise!! The team are certainly thinking more about how we present food/ menus and choices.

Others are actually finding their new diets challenging but have managed to adapt recipes or are finding they are actually feeling better now they are not eating bread products. One of the team members has asked if he can hold a Gluten free cake sale!!’

Category: Allergies, Blogging/social media, Coeliac/celiac disease, Dairy-free, Food, FreeFrom Awards, FreeFrom Food, Gluten-free, Peanut allergyTag: Around 50% of households now buy freefrom food, FreeFrom Eating Out Awards, Going to uni for the first time the most dangerous time for allergic students, Helping allergic students when they first go to university, Just Giving, Manchester Metropolitan University catering, Schools & University category in the FreeFrom Eating Out Awards, TUCO, TUCO allergen policies

Previous Post: « The tragedy of young death
Next Post: Lean Logic and Surviving the Future »

Reader Interactions

Trackbacks

  1. FreeFrom Orkney says:
    09/09/2016 at 15:18

    […] and us both to talk to the students at Orkney College in Kirkwall. An excellent follow on to the work I have been doing with […]

  2. The FreeFrom Eating Out Awards Shortlist says:
    21/10/2016 at 19:31

    […] Metropolitan Univsersity into that category after they had picked up so splendidly on the talk I had done for TUCO in the summer on how dangerous a time going to university was for allergic […]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Colliding with a new reality – the hazards of low vision
  • Call for adult allergy sufferers
  • The vegan/allergy labelling issue
  • A gluten free Christmas just could be delicious – not a penance!
  • A food fad won’t kill you – an allergy will

Search this blog

ARCHIVES

Blogroll

  • Allergy Insight
  • Better brains, naturally
  • For Ever FreeFrom
  • Free From (gluten)
  • Freefrom Food Awards
  • Gluten-free Mrs D
  • Natural Health Worldwide
  • Pure Health Clinic
  • Skins Matter
  • The Helminthic Therapy Wiki
  • Truly Gluten Free
  • What Allergy?

TOPICS

A food fad won’t kill you – an allergy will

There has been a predictable outcry in the allergy world this week’s in response to Rachel Johnson’s piece in Thursday’s Evening Standard on ‘dietary requirements’ and food fads. Being charitable, I am assuming that she has never suffered from or lived with someone with a food allergy. However, I do have some sympathy with her …

Bioplastics – a solution or part of the problem?

Everyday Plastic is a social enterprise group using accessible learning and publicity campaigns to reduce the amount of plastics used daily in our society. It was founded by its current director Daniel Webb who, having moved to Margate in Kent in 2016, was horrified to discover that there were no plastic recycling options on offer.  …

FreeFrom Christmas Awards – the Winners

Since they were launched two years ago the FreeFrom Christmas Awards have been a great success. And how lucky are ‘freefrom-ers’ these days!  From Advent calendars to gifts, party food to Christmas dinner, there is no longer any need for them to miss out. Indeed, the whole family can happily eat freefrom and never know …

Do not extradite Julian Assange to the US

Julian Assange is being sought by the current US administration for publishing US government documents which exposed war crimes and human rights abuses. The politically motivated charges represent an unprecedented attack on press freedom and the public’s right to know – seeking to criminalise basic journalistic activity. Assange is facing a 175-year sentence for publishing …

What to believe – applying critical thought

For the average citizen evaluating the claims made for cure all – or even improve all – health products and procedures has always been difficult. Not only is it an area in which we have minimal expertise but most of us have a vested interest in finding a miracle intervention that will solve our health …

Could wireless monitoring devices be killing racehorses?

Regular readers may remember that back in August last year I alerted you to a posting on Arthur Firstenberg’s Cellphone Task Force site about phone masts and bird flu. Could there be a connection between the fact that the two wildlife sites in Holland and Northern France which had suffered catastrophic bird flu deaths were …

Site Footer

Copyright © 2025 · Michelle's Blog · Michelle Berridale Johnson · Site design by DigitalJen·