SAFELY CATERING FOR PUPILS WITH MEDICAL DIETS

May 2023

At Chartwells Independent, safely providing nutritious meals for every pupil we serve is fundamentally important. This is why we have industry leading processes and practices, overseen by our award-winning team of nutritionists, to ensure that pupils managing food allergies and intolerances can enjoy mealtimes.

Coming to school and feeling safe to eat with their friends is something every pupil should be able to enjoy, and something parents should feel reassured of. Our policy is supported by a set of robust procedures that allow our team of medical diet nutritionists to create a wide range of medical diet menus that replicate the school menu so pupils with food allergies and intolerances feel included with their friends whilst safely eating school meals.

Our medical diet nutritionists are on hand to support pupils with food allergies, intolerances, and other medical conditions, such as coeliac disease, PKU, and cystic fibrosis.

Some of the steps our teams offer to support our schools are:

• Working closely with development chefs to ensure a suitable menu choice is always available
• Recipe and ingredient innovation to provide a range of allergy friendly dishes
• Use of our menu management tool The Source to provide full traceability and transparency of all ingredients and recipes along with full allergen information
• Training sessions on allergens are delivered regularly through workshops and online refresher training sessions
• Internal audits using our online app MPRO5 to ensure compliance with our medical diet policy ensuring schools operate safely
• Working with our HSE teams to reduce the risk of cross-contamination in our kitchens through the use of separate utensils, counter space, and storage tubs

Our medical diet team are available all year round to support schools, pupils, and families with best-practice guidance and advice on catering for those with medical diets. They have their own email, hotline and WhatsApp so they can be contacted easily. To further enhance our medical diet provision Chartwells Independent also has a longstanding partnership with Coeliac UK. In recognition of the great work we do in this area, a number of our schools, including St. Faiths and The Leys, have held accreditations with Coeliac UK for the past four years.

The safety of every pupil is our top priority no matter what their dietary requirements are. Whether a parent or pupil, our system gives peace of mind to those dining with Chartwells Independent.