QUALITALY

DEC. JAN. 2018

and finished products is an approach

introduced with the circular of

the Ministry of Health dated 6

February 2015. It is therefore a lawful

obligation. If you do not guarantee

this internal traceability, there is a risk

of incurring penalties of up to 3,500

euros, even if for now I have not seen

any fines imposed for this reason.”

From traceability to communication

If a restaurateur knows to

perfection what each dish contains,

communicating it to his customers

is not difficult. “My suggestion –

explains Valerio Sarti – is to prepare

an allergen chart, a table in which

to indicate, with simple crosses, the

correspondencing recipes/allergens.

The table should be updated every

time you change the menu or replace

an ingredient, but it allows you to

create a custom allergen file which is

easy to use. The communication to

the customer is the final act of this

process and can be pushed - if you

are convinced of your work and you

want to become the local benchmark

for the allergic who wants to eat

out – or minimised. According to my

experience, for now the regulatory

authorities are satisfied to find the

single allergen book and the indication

“For more information contact the

service personnel.” I believe that they

are not insisting too much on these

issues to give companies time to

adapt, but that it is only a matter of

time and therefore it is good that the

catering companies begin to structure

themselves to guarantee the maximum

possible protection for allergics. In

my opinion, as in the beginning of

the last decade, the restaurateurs were

asked to invest on safety by focusing

on microbiological aspects, this should

now extend to allergens, which are

much more sensitive and complicated

to manage. “

______________________________

BOX

THE SUGGESTION

Allergics are often the first to report

their problem when booking, if not,

inquire about any allergies at that

time can help to better manage the

service. A good practice is to suggest

to any allergics to go to eat early,

because at the beginning of service it

is much easier to avoid contamination

compared to later periods with more

customers, in which the kitchen is

busier, more stressed and the risks are

increased.

______________________________

BOX

EROS PICCO TELLS US HOW

ALLERGENS ARE HANDLED IN

HIS RESTAURANT

How are the allergens managed, in

practice, and what does this mean for a

chef? Eros Picco, chef and owner of the

restaurant Innocenti Evasioni in Milan,

tells us. “When booking, we inform

ourselves about any allergies and we

put a note in the reservation, so when

ordering we can suggest the dishes

that the allergic can order or that are

best avoided. Some ingredients, then,

are added only in the final stage of

the dish preparation and, if necessary,

we avoid doing so. Where possible,

we create ad hoc dishes, trying not to

let the problem be a burden and to

satisfy the customer in every respect.

In the kitchen we follow the colour

code method to distinguish the

utensils used for the different classes

of ingredients. For celiacs we have

gluten-free products, which we buy

from external suppliers to ensure the

absence of contamination as much

as possible.” The staff - both in the

restaurant and the kitchen - is trained

on the subject and the waiters in most

cases are already able to answer on the

most widespread allergies. The book

of ingredients is available and there

are “talking menus” with highlighted

allergens for those who request them.

“Allergen Management – explains Picco

– is included in the self-regulatory

plan. Keeping up-to-date with all the

fulfillments would require a person

who only dedicates himself to this.”

But how often do you have allergic

reactions in the restaurant? “Almost

every night we are notified of a food

allergy - Eros Picco reckons - about 5%

of the customers suffer and report it. I

have been a cook for 35 years and this

theme has been heard for 5 years now.

Travelling a lot abroad, however, I

have noticed that the attention to these

aspects is especially strong in Italy.”

______________________________

AT PAGE 54

The freedom to choose

Free-from, or a wide range of foods

that do not contain ingredients

known to be damaging to health

By Barbara Panterna *

The consumer today is increasingly

looking for Free-from products,

sometimes to follow ‘trends’ but also

for actual needs. In recent years, in

fact, an increase in allergies and food

intolerances has been recorded in

the population, which has pushed

the user to remove certain foods and

substances from their diet.

Before going further into this,

however, I would like to clarify

what Free-from products are: a wide

range of foods that do not contain

certain ingredients/substances that,

for different reasons, are harmful;

they are therefore “foods without

something”, from fats to GMOs, from

palm oil to preservatives, from gluten