Advocating for Safer Restaurants

Have you ever wished the restaurants your family visited or would like to visit were more allergy aware? Sometimes the reason they are not is simply because no one has taken the time to educate them.

The Food Allergy and Anaphylactic Network (FAAN) recently released a training guide for restaurants. It offers education on things like food labeling, guidelines to avoid cross contamination, and much more to make restaurants more aware of how to keep those with food allergies safe.

This guide is available for free download here.

While you can provide it to your favorite restaurants, you can do much more to help out every food allergic individual in your state. Most states have some organization(s) to which many restaurants belong. The goal of these organizations is to educate restaurants to help their businesses achieve as much successful as possible.


Wouldn't you say understanding how to keep your child safe while they dine should be a part of their definition of "success?"

I live in Michigan and a friend suggested I let the Michigian Restaurant Association know about this new guide. That is exactly what I did. I sent them the following email:

Hi. I am with Circle of Food Allergic Families. We are a support group in Oakland county for families dealing with food allergies.

The Food & Anaphylaxis Network(FAAN) recently released a free training guide for restaurants. It includes case studies, best practices, up-to-date research, food labeling information, practical strategies for avoiding cross-contact, suggested procedures for keeping guests safe, and steps to prepare for an allergic emergency.

The guide is available for free download at http://www.foodallergy.org/downloads/welcomingguests.pdf.

I know many people in the restaurant industry are aware of the increasing incidence of food allergies today. This guide should provide a great deal of information and guidance that can help restaurants both big and small.

Would you consider posting this guide on your website so that it is available to members of your association?

If you have any questions about this guide or food allergies in general, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Best Regards,
Robyn

Doing something similar in your state is an excellent way to educate those who have the potential to make a huge difference in the safety of your child. Even if you choose not to eat out (many families with food allergy families make this choice), many other FA families do. This is your chance to help keep those families safe.

The more people from each state that contact these organizations, the more they will take note. (i.e. If you live in Michigan, please contact MRA just like I did!)

To find out where to contact in your state, start by googling your state's name and the terms "Restaurant Association." For example: "Michigan Restaurant Association." See what comes up in your search. If it doesn't immediately pull something up, look around and I think you will find something.

You are welcome to use as much of the text of my own letter as you want. If you are not a part of a support group, make yourself relevant by letting them know you have a child with life-threatening food allergies.

If you have a friend in the food service industry, they might be able to offer suggestions of other organizations that might be interested in this guide.

Our job as PA parents is to keep our children safe when they are out of the walls of our home. Promoting this guide is a very positive step in that direction.