How to safely prepare hot drinks for the Free From customer
What happened when Costa got allergens wrong……
Customer holding a take away hot drink cup
Are you aware of the recent tragic death of 13 year old Hannah Johnson?
She ordered an oat milk hot chocolate from Costa and after drinking it had an anaphylactic shock and died as she was allergic to milk.
Following the inquest the coroner stated that there had been some failures and a break down in communication between the coffee shop staff and the customer, she concluded there was:
“A failure to follow the processes in place to discuss allergies”
Following the inquest outcome a fact sheet on 'Preparing Drinks for the Free From Customer' was put together by 'Allergy Aware'.
What can you do to keep free from customers safe?
Ask every customer about allergies
Lack of information about a customer’s allergy can result in staff misunderstanding their requirements and mistakes being made.
In the recently updated food allergen information for caterers guidance it recommends that food businesses ask every customer if they have a food allergy or intolerance. If they do then they can be referred to detailed allergen information either in a matrix or on their menu. There are new allergen icons and an updated matrix in the updated guidance.
It is a good idea to have an trained allergy ambassador or champion on shift who can continue the conversation about food allergies with the customer. This is especially important if the environment you work in is busy and noisy, to make sure that the allergy customer’s needs are fully understood and fulfilled.
A barista serving a customer
2. Set up procedures for preparing allergen free hot drinks for customers
You should have documented controls in your HACCP documentation to ensure if you do make drinks for free from customers you can do it safely.
What can you do?
Use colour coded equipment such as jugs and spoons for different plant milks - soya, oat etc.
Do 2 stage cleaning and use single use cloths.
Have separate milk frothers/steamers for different milks if you can
Be careful with sprinkles, syrups and mixers.
See the leaflet for tips on heating plant milks and how to reduce the risk for people with nut allergies.
Cross contamination is often difficult to avoid in coffee shops due to the fast paced environments and small spaces that many are located in. Display a polite allergen information notice telling customers of any cross contamination risks that exist (previously these have been referred to as disclaimers).
However, if you feel you can’t safely serve a free from customer then tell them, but remember legally you have to have the allergen information available on the 14 identified allergens for all the food items you serve.
Oat Milk coffee
3. Train your staff in your allergen procedures
ALL staff should attend an allergen awareness course but equally important is that they fully understand the allergen procedures you have in place in your food business. Allergen training should never be a tick box exercise it’s too important! This information should be included in staff inductions, in ongoing and refresher training.
What can you do?
Display signage listing your allergen controls as a reminder for staff on what they need to do, and keep their allergen training up to date. You can download this poster by signing up for updates in the footer of our website.
Example allergen cross contact controls for Front of House Staff
4. Document any near misses with allergens and learn from any mistakes
It is really important to write down when ‘near misses’ happen with allergens, what went wrong (the root cause) and what you can do to prevent it happening again (corrective action). This could be written in your Daily Diary.
After an allergen ‘near miss’ always review what happened. If you change or put additional procedures in place don’t forget to retrain your staff.
