Allergen management – what are EHOs looking for?

When an Environmental Health Officer carries out a food hygiene inspection at your business, they are looking to ensure that you are operating in line with legal food hygiene and safety requirements and that the food you are producing or selling is safe for consumers to eat – one of the areas EHOs will be looking at is how you manage allergens.

EHOs will assess your business according to the criteria of the National Food Hygiene Rating Scheme, meaning they will check for food hygiene and safety procedures, structural requirements and confidence in management. Managing allergens effectively and efficiently factors into each of these criteria so it is vital to get that right.

As is standard procedure when it comes to carrying out a food hygiene inspection, an Environmental Health Officer will want to observe that the business is operating in a compliant, safe and legal way. The effective management of allergens is a central factor in this, so evidence of this in practice will be sought. In particular when it comes to inspecting the allergen management of your business, EHOs will be looking for the lengths that have been taken to ensure that there is no present risk of cross contamination of allergens in the premises.

This can cover prepping areas, as EHOs will want to ensure surfaces and chopping boards are being cleaned effectively in between uses. That colour coded equipment may be employed in order to help differentiate. Furthermore, EHOs will want to see if there are separately allocated areas for the prep of allergen free food or perhaps specifically to prepare food for someone with an allergy.

Inspections are thorough and high hygiene standards will be sought, which includes the usage and wear of gloves when handling ingredients, that hair nets are being worn, that hand washing takes place regularly and at the right times (before prep, after handling and/or disposing of foods).

Factoring into this too are the apparent storage solutions, making sure any allergens are packed individually and stored away from one another in sealed containers. Also that foods and ingredients have been dated and labelled accurately.

Evidence of the business recording the safe storage and usage of ingredients will be required – this is where you should be able to present an up to date Allergen Matrix detailing which allergens have been used and when. As part of the Safety Management System that all NCASS members receive upon joining, a helpful and simple to use Allergen Matrix is provided.

Competence must also be displayed that staff can display adequate precautionary measures too when it comes to handling allergens. An EHO will want to see evidence of any training that has been successfully carried out by members of staff as having training certificates are a good way to inspire confidence in effective management. NCASS offers a range of training courses for food and drink businesses, including a course on Allergen Awareness which is designed to give you a comprehensive understanding of allergens in the kitchen and how to manage them effectively.

If you want to learn more about allergen management as well as preparing for the visit of an EHO, NCASS has plenty more resources on both:

For more on preparing accurately for your EHO visit our preparation page and also you can download our EHO Inspection Checklist guide for free.

To find all of our allergen related content and resources, visit our Allergen Hub.

For more information and help on managing your allergens and displaying them accurately to customers, look no further than NCASS partner ANI app.

The first episode of the NCASS Podcast is all about debunking myths when it comes to food hygiene inspections and discusses further what an EHO may look for – listen here.