ALLERGY INFORMATION
Primary Schools and schools that pre-order
It is the responsibility of parents/carers to ensure that any allergies, intolerances, medical dietary requirements or special diets are reported to the school during enrolment, directly to the school office, or through the Medical Diet Request Form process, where applicable.
Where a pupil has an allergy or special dietary requirement, no meals should be ordered through the online meal ordering system until written confirmation has been received from the school that the relevant information has been recorded and updated on both the school management system and the meal ordering system.
If there is ever any doubt that the meal you are ordering does not seem right, please speak to the school before ordering to ensure the correct information is loaded onto the system.
We are committed to providing meals for all our customers/pupils and, where possible, for those needing special diets for medical requirements. We work closely with our suppliers and have systems in place to ensure our kitchen teams have information as accurate as possible, but it must be noted that we can only be guided by information that suppliers provide – this is similar to the process of a parent catering for a child’s special diet at home.
Parents/carers are responsible for notifying the school immediately of any changes to a child’s allergy status, dietary requirements, diagnosis, treatment plan or medical advice. Meals should not be ordered until confirmation has been received that the school and meal ordering systems have been updated accordingly.
Next steps if your child has allergy or special diet requirements.
Ordering from the normal menu
If your child has limited allergies which mean they can order a suitable dish from our published menu, then please ensure you contact the school and request written confirmation that they have uploaded your child’s allergies onto their school system and our online ordering system.
If you are happy to order a suitable dish from our published menu and the school is already aware of your child's special dietary needs, then you don't need to do anything and you can order a suitable dish.
All meals are ordered through our online meal ordering system. Where allergies or special dietary requirements have been correctly recorded, the online ordering system is designed to help identify suitable menu choices. However, parents/carers remain responsible for ensuring that all dietary information held by the school is accurate and up to date. If allergies or dietary requirements have not been reported or updated, it may be possible to order a meal that is unsuitable for your child.
Special diets
If you have completed the steps above and your child's special dietary needs mean they cannot order from the normal menu, please complete the Medical Diet Request Form and submit it to the school office with a referral letter from a medical professional.
Please note: We will only be able to accommodate requests for special medical diets if they are supported by appropriate medical evidence (such as a letter from a GP, consultant, or dietitian).
This method will only be accepted once the form has been acknowledged by both the school and Culinera, and to order a suitable dish from our online system.
If Suitable Options Are Not Available
If, for whatever reason, we cannot offer a special medical menu, you may be able to access the Culinera Limited Menu. Please continue with the special medical diet menu process and tick that you are also interested in the limited menu. If neither a special medical menu nor the limited menu is suitable, you may need to provide a packed lunch until a safe option can be confirmed.
On the day
We ask our customers with special dietary needs or allergies, to speak with one of our team on a daily basis to ensure the suitable dishes are selected. Customers with allergies or medical dietary requirements should not use self-service counters, including salad bars, condiment stations or grab-and-go displays, unless specifically directed by a member of the team.
Important Exclusions
Culinera are unable to provide medical diets for food allergies that fall outside of the recognised 14 major allergens (see below).
Due to the complexity of allergen and intolerance-related medical diet requests and to ensure the delivery of safe school meals for pupils with medical dietary requirements, we can only provide medical diets for children with no more than a combination of three specified food allergies/intolerances (excluding tree nut, peanut, or shellfish).
Culinera reserves the right to refuse, suspend or withdraw meal provision where:
- Information provided is incomplete, unclear or contradictory.
- Appropriate medical evidence has not been received.
- The dietary requirements cannot be safely accommodated.
- There is insufficient time to assess and implement a safe dietary provision.
If it is deemed to be too complex or high risk to safely manage at location level.
In these circumstances, parents/carers may be asked to provide a packed lunch until a safe solution has been agreed.
Processing Times for special menus
The timescale for a medical menu to be implemented is approximately three weeks from the submission of the completed Medical Diet Request Form.
During peak times (e.g., September), we allow up to six weeks for processing.
Where new pupils are joining a Culinera school, we require the Medical Diet Request Form and evidence to be submitted at least two weeks prior to the end of the summer term.
If possible and safe, we will enable the limited menu to your child whilst your Medical Diet Request is reviewed.
The 14 Major Allergens
Culinera can only provide medical diets for allergies to the following 14 major allergens, as required by law. These are here.
Mandatory Exclusion List
Culinera cannot safely cater for exclusion diets involving the following but not limited to:
Onion, garlic, tomato, potato, fructose, E-numbers and additives (except artificial colours), herbs, spices, unspecified seeds, salicylates, low FODMAP, citric acid, benzoates and cinnamon, legumes, yeast, derivatives of corn (e.g., dextrose, maltodextrin), derivatives of bean (e.g., guar gum), modified maize starch, sodium nitrite, vegetable oils (sunflower, palm), vitamin A, D.
Limited Menu Exclusions
If your child’s diet excludes any of the following, we are unable to offer even a limited menu: Melon, pineapple, grapes (white, black, red, green), apple, watermelon, mandarins, cucumber, carrot.
Cross contamination
Despite our best efforts and allergen management procedures, food and drink is prepared in kitchens and environments where allergens are present. As a result, cross-contamination may occur and Culinera cannot guarantee that any food or drink served is completely free from allergens.
Reintroduction of allergen
Culinera will not participate in the reintroduction of allergens or partial exclusion of allergens. For example, we cannot differentiate between cooked, baked or raw egg.
Our position on Nuts and Peanuts
Culinera does not use nuts in any of the food that we prepare in-house and serve and therefore we operate nut free kitchens*.
We limit the number of ingredients that are labelled as "may contain", however we are unable to guarantee that dishes/products served are totally free from nuts / nut derivatives.
This is because, ingredients, for example, croissants may be made in a factory containing nuts, bread may be baked in a factory handling nuts, or some production lines may have machines lubricated with nut oil.
Please note that we are unable to take responsibility for any food brought in by children in packed lunches that contain (or may contain) nuts.
* Our teams are asked to politely refuse any gifts which may be given from time to time which contain nuts, for example chocolate. Clients are encouraged to give such gifts outside of the kitchen and catering environment.
Further information
If you have any questions or need further support, please contact your school office or the Culinera Special Diets Team.
Please note new requests for special diet menus can only come from the school; this is to ensure that the school are aware of your child’s needs and can safely support them during their school day.
Whilst every reasonable precaution is taken to minimise allergen risks, parents/carers and schools are responsible for ensuring that allergy, intolerance and dietary information is accurate, complete, up to date and correctly recorded on all relevant systems.
Culinera cannot accept responsibility for any incident arising from information which has not been disclosed, communicated, updated, accurately recorded, or correctly loaded onto the school's management systems or the meal ordering system. This includes circumstances where dietary information has changed and those changes have not been communicated to both the school and Culinera.
For our special diets REQUEST FORM please click here. Please note this is subject to change.