Food Protection Trends - September/October 2016 - 378

Table 4. Specific quotes regarding food allergy risk identification Risk Perceptions Selected Quotes Hidden ingredients "There are some customers who are allergic to fish product and we have a dish that contain oyster, it's either oyster or something fish in our ingredients which sometimes the servers don't even know." "So the possibility of a splash from one fryer to another fryer is possible and if you are severely allergic that possibility is there." Potential cross-contact "When it comes to food allergy, you have to be a little more specific because you don't want to use something that has been around let's say nuts and then contaminate it with something else that's not supposed to have nuts in it." "Because between the servers, you know, bringing in the food to the chef making the entrée, there definitely could be complications. A server could accidentally forget to notify the chef or the chef might not be aware of the allergies." Communication "There was an instance. And she did not tell us that she was allergic but she also didn't order anything in her item that prompted her to ask for that. But someone next to her ordered the seafood and that did bother her because of how close it was. And there could have been a cross-contamination." commercial restaurants (16). However, participants in this study addressed communication challenges only when they were prompted, which makes it uncertain if they consider communication as important. The communication procedures between and among restaurant staff is important, considering the number of staff involved in typical restaurant operations and the staff 's level of knowledge about food allergies. When asked, one manager acknowledged the importance of communication, stating "the way to eliminate the problem is just communication" and "it's definitely better to over-communicate if you [customers] have a food allergy than to risk running into a problem." If customers do not discuss their food allergies with restaurant staff, cross-contacts in kitchen and service areas are more likely to happen. Previous research has indicated that a significant percentage of customers do not communicate their food allergies with restaurant service staff because they wish to avoid potential social embarrassment (23). Our participants expressed that they would appreciate it if customers with food allergies can "actually let us know ahead of time if they have any allergies, before they place the order" so that "the chef and everybody else who is in charge of producing the food and make sure that whatever they are allergic to does not come in contact with the rest of the food." However, as discussed above, it was apparent that some managers solely depended 378 Food Protection Trends September/October on notification from customers, rather than proactive communication from staff. "We do rely a lot on the customers or the guests to take the responsibility and let us know ahead of time" one of our respondents said, because "it's their health obviously and we are liable just as well." Previous research found that the majority of customers with food allergies thought it was their personal responsibility to prevent food allergy reactions (40). However, there's an inverse relationship between the level of control perceived by customers and the tendency to rely on the establishment's risk management (40). For example, individuals with food allergies may feel a lack of control when dining out, and they may rely more on foodservice establishments to manage the risk and prevent food allergy reactions. Furthermore, some participants (n = 5) emphasized that customers need to provide correct information to restaurants. The words customers used when communicating food allergies can lead to different attention levels from restaurant staff. For example, using the phrase "I'm allergic to" would bring more attention than "I want to avoid" or "I don't like." Considering "a significant growth in (the number of) gluten free requests in the restaurant," restaurant managers raised the concern that "a lot of the times guests request gluten free dishes and there is a very big

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Food Protection Trends - September/October 2016