Food Allergy Poster Hearing, NYC

This announcement comes from the press office of Jessica Lappin, New York City Council:




COME TESTIFY TO SUPPORT FOOD ALLERGY POSTERS

Last March, a bill sponsored by Council Member Lappin became law requiring restaurants to display a poster that provides important food allergy information to their staff. The Department of Health was charged with designing this poster and has prepared a draft version. It’s a good start, but it could be made much stronger. The proposed poster focuses solely on food servers and does not offer information to workers who may contaminate food with allergens at any other point as food is cooked and prepared. We’d like to see that included on the final version.

Add your voice! The public has the chance to testify and recommend changes to the proposed poster before it becomes final. Come out and urge the Department of Health to create a meaningful poster that will educate all restaurant workers. Let’s make sure this poster is as strong and valuable as it can be.

Hearing Details:
Friday, October 23, 2009
10 a.m. – noon
Department of Health
125 Worth Street, Third Floor Boardroom
For more information, call Christina Bottego at (212) 788-6865.
Persons interested in pre-registering to speak at the hearing should notify Rena Bryant, in writing, by mail to 125 Worth Street, CN-31, New York, NY 10013, or by fax to (212) 788-4315 by 5 pm, October 22, 2009. Please include a telephone number where, if necessary, you may be reached during normal working hours. Speakers will be limited to 5 minutes.


The sample text that needs clarification:

Food Allergy Alert!

Food allergies are serious. Even a small amount of an allergy-causing food can make people sick.

When customers tell you they have a food allergy:

· Ask the chef or the manager if the allergy-causing food is in the dish ordered.
· Ask the chef if the allergy-causing food could have had contact with the dish order during preparation.
· Tell the customer that the allergy-causing food is or may be present in their order if it is an ingredient or could have had contact during preparation.

The eight most common allergy-causing foods are peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, eggs, milk, wheat and soy.

Call 911 if the customer has an allergic reaction.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I've had allergies and asthma my whole life, and my son is allergic to oranges and oats. While neither of his food allergies are life threatening, trying to explain to someone that oatmeal will cause him to vomit for two hours can be difficult. I send him to preschool with a sticker on his shirt detailing what he can't eat. I can't imagine how hard it is for people with life threatening allergies. I am personally trying a holistic therapy for reducing allergy symptoms with the hope that if it works my son can go through the treatment. If you know anything about it, I would love to see a post on it. It's called BAX 3000 therapy and the website is www.biovedawellness.com. Do you or any of your readers know about the therapy?
Thanks,
Jennifer

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