Hospitals need training and reliable systems to deal with food allergies

Despite the increase in food allergies in recent years, the issue of food safety in hospitals for people with allergies doesn’t appear to be on the radar for some organizations, according to an article on the Allergic Living website.

The American Hospital Association did make one recommendation, in 2008, to implement red as a standardized wristband color for allergies in hospitals. 

However, not all hospitals have adopted the standardized wristband colors, including the one signifying allergies.

And there is no widely used, standardized training that specifically addresses the unique aspects of a hospital, from identifying patients with allergies to kitchen practices and making sure that the right tray gets up to the right patient, said Betsy Craig, who has trained professionals at dozens of hospitals in the United States with AllerTrain, a food allergy and gluten-free training course for food-service professionals.

Read the article.