Preparing food for children

[sarah707]

This manslaughter judgement has implications for anyone who buys, stores, prepares and serves food for children or adults.

We have to be so careful about gathering information re allergies from parents, reading food labels (especially loose food), following safe storage and cooking instructions etc. It's a big responsibility and one we shouldn't take lightly...

The news story is here - Peanut allergy death: Restaurant owner Mohammed Zaman jailed for six years for killing customer with curry | Crime | News | The Independent

Safer food better business for childminders - the latest version - is here - https://www.food.gov.uk/sites/defaul...nders-pack.pdf - it contains information about allergens.

Hth ...

[rickysmiths]

This is actually one of the reasons I prefer to prepare food from scratch and don't have any food brought by parents. I have no control over the food if it comes from parents.

[k1rstie]

This is actually one of the reasons I prefer to prepare food from scratch and don't have any food brought by parents. I have no control over the food if it comes from parents.

I agree this this.

In the news story, it was not an accident. The owner deliberately substitute peanuts for almonds, and the customer had stated that he could not eat nuts.

[sarah707]

I agree this this.

In the news story, it was not an accident. The owner deliberately substitute peanuts for almonds, and the customer had stated that he could not eat nuts.

A lot of food providers try to save money by bulking out almonds and other more expensive nuts with peanuts - it's common practice

Hopefully this judgement will go some way to making food safer for those with allergies ...

[Kiddleywinks]

I agree this this. In the news story, it was not an accident. The owner deliberately substitute peanuts for almonds, and the customer had stated that he could not eat nuts.

It was the other way round - he swapped almond oil for peanut oil as it was cheaper

[ajc]

We have to be so careful, and also I always thought that an almond was a nut!

[sarah707]

We have to be so careful, and also I always thought that an almond was a nut!

There are different types of nuts - peanuts and tree nuts ...

[moggy]

There are different types of nuts - peanuts and tree nuts ...

Nut allergies can be very specific (allergy to just one particular nut), or general allergy to all nuts, or to a type of nuts (like tree-nuts or ground-nuts). Someone with a specific nut allergy could eat other nuts safely. In this case the owner said the meal was 'no nuts' but actually it had nuts in- the details of what nuts they were seems a distraction to the actual issue.

[k1rstie]

We have to be so careful, and also I always thought that an almond was a nut!

Almonds are nuts as they grow on a tree, a peanut is not a nut but a legume, and they grow under the ground

[FloraDora]

Good thread Sarah to highlight the importance of making sure you follow the safer food better business guidelines.
In a group of childminders I was recently talking to I was the only one who kept fridge temperatures, prodded food with a food thermometer, use different coloured food prep boards. We do all this for us, as a family, not just the business. I was made to feel as if I was the 'fussy' one. My DH was a food technology ( cooking) teacher and taught some of this basic safe practise many years ago.....these people are now childminders...and ignore the guidelines...some of this group didn't know about the guidelines.

I think that it mainly comes down to the initial training from LEA's, it is so varied. This safer food better business wasn't mentioned in my training...DH knew of course and sign posts on here mentioned it....which was confirmed when I got the local food safety officer call. But I know that not all childminders have this inspection.

[mama2three]

Im possibly one of the cms you refer to Floradora.
I check temps , but dont keep them. I dont use a food probe - in fact my food inspector told me it wasnt needed for the size of joints etc I cook and that as long as you know your stuff - ie which meats can be pink , which cant then thats fine. I am a bit ott when it comes to checking ingredients as I have a child with cashew allergy ( fine with other nuts). I dont always cook from scratch , I use jars of pasta sauce etc regularly.
But Im absolutely sure that the children are safe regarding food - I know all their intolerances and allergies , I check if I buy a different brand to usual ( and regularly incase my usual brands change ingredients) . I researched what kinds of food use cashew as an ingredient and avoid these altogether - pesto for example as they sometimes use cashew nuts / oils if pine nuts arent available.

The restaurant owner was negligent - he deliberately , knowingly gave this man something to which he was allergic .

[SYLVIA]

My DIL used a hand cream one night after changing her babies nappy. When she woke in the morning her hands and face were all swollen. The cream had macadamia nut oil in. She looked horrific and it took a few days and medication to reduce the swelling. There was no warning on the cream packaging either

[ajc]

That's exactly what I was thinking Moggy, the fact that he was served nuts was the point, not the kind of nut.

[ajc]

So, was just wondering why my post sat in the background and didn't appear on live posts?

[sarah707]

So, was just wondering why my post sat in the background and didn't appear on live posts?

The forum usually updates really quickly! was your post delayed? Were you using a computer / laptop or the app? x

[ajc]

Just posting on my tablet as normal, just didn't want your informative post to disappear! X