How to Make Breakrooms Safe for Employees With Food Allergies

Food allergies can make so many situations difficult. Eating at work, where you enjoy five meals a week, shouldn’t be one of them. Whether you’re the person with food allergies, or the breakroom chaos coordinator, here are a few tips to help keep everyone safe (and fueled for the work ahead!).

Designated Space

As safely as someone prepares their food at home, there’s still a chance of contamination once it reaches the office. To keep this at bay, it’s best to designate the top shelf of the fridge for the lunches of those with food allergies. The idea is that “dangerous” foods will have a harder time touching the safe meals if at the very top of the fridge.

Safe Utensils

No matter how dedicated you are to washing, utensils are an easy vessel for carrying even the tiniest amounts of food allergens. If you use reusable utensils, it’s nice to also have single use, individually wrapped utensils for those who may need them.

Label Shared Foods

A lot of community in the workplace is around food. Whether it’s a potluck or a staff lunch, it’s a big part of workplace culture. If having a potluck, ask those participating to print and display the recipe they used, so people can scan ingredients and determine if it’s a safe option for them.

When ordering in for a staff lunch, offer those with food allergies the option to pick their own entree. Then, ask the restaurant to wrap it separately from the other foods to avoid cross contact on the commute.

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

The biggest key is to communicate more than you think you may need to. If you’re entering a new workplace, be sure to tell HR or the hiring manager of your food allergy early on. While it’s great to advocate for yourself, there are a few ways they can help communicate, too.

• Signs in the breakroom reminding folks of cross contamination
• An email reminder of safe practices in the breakroom
• If severe, ask for employees to restrain from bringing that food to the office

Treat the Cause of Food Allergies

Those with food allergies know that avoidance can only help so much. You can read labels and avoid as much as you can, but there is always the scary chance of a reaction. Allergychoices recommends treating food allergy with allergy drops following The La Crosse Method™ Protocol.

Allergy drops are custom-tailored to each patient based on their testing results, history, and exam. The dose is high enough to help build tolerance, but not too high to cause reactions. Slowly and safely, the doses are increased so that the body learns to tolerate more and more of the problem food.

While some are able to reintroduce the food into their diet, most are able to add a layer of safety in case of accidental exposure – reducing the risk of severe reactions. If that sounds like something you could benefit from, start by finding a provider near you that offers testing and treatment.