Earlier this year we were contacted by Brian Ellul and Clayton Massa, the Kitchen Management at St James Hospital, to provide the staff with information and a better understanding of coeliac disease and more importantly food handling. We had the opportunity to meet all staff members on Saturday 9th June to discuss a number of issues.
A summary of the points discussed during the meeting:
- Coeliac disease and how gluten can cause harm
- The difference between coeliac disease and non coeliac gluten sensitivity
- Ingredients that contain gluten
- Where gluten free food should be stored
- Labelling or colour coding of gluten free food
- Substitute ingredients that can be used for gluten free dishes
- Precautions to take when preparing a gluten free dish such as:
- Cleaning of work area and equipment
- Separate equipment such as toasters
- Separate working area
We thank the staff for reaching out to us on this matter and for giving us to opportunity to raise more awareness of coeliac disease.
We encourage other catering businesses to contact us for similar meetings.