IHC Leads the Way with Allergy Training.
By Liam Macleod

This summer Camp IHC has taken big steps forward in improving their food service efforts.
Lonnie, our new Director of Operational Support and Innovation for food services at the camp and Jason — our special diets chef — have been working hard to make Camp IHC one of the safest, healthiest and tastiest camp dining halls in America.
This summer, he and his team went through some extensive training with AllerTrain to make IHC one of the top camps in the country for catering towards food allergies.
There are multiple benefits to this advanced training. First of all, Lonnie and Jason are now both master trainers, which means they collectively have the ability to train our staff, specifically Jason’s staff, and actually certify our employees in the awareness and importance around allergies, intolerances and sensitivities that relate to food. On top of this, they are certified by AllerTrain to instruct and teach the same coursework as their field managers do to other outside organizations. Second of all, Lonnie and Jason now have the ability to perform mandatory AllerTrain audits/ inspections as well as perform food and facility testing to insure our facility and the food products we serve and procure are allergen free.
By partnering with Kitchens with Confidence and complying with monthly testing and audits they received a “Certificate of Audit” which states that IHC follows a rigorous platform around policies, standards and procedures to keep a facility FREE from Gluten, Wheat, Peanuts and Tree-nuts. They also received several endorsements from KwC and MenuTrinfo such as an Allergen & Gluten Free Certification, Certified Gluten Free and CFF (Certified Free From Wheat, Peanuts and Tree-nuts)
This certification is not only important to us but also important to our camper family community. As far as we are aware, we are currently the only camp in the United States to have this certification and it shows to our camper families we have the right process in place to make sure our campers are fed safe food that is free of any allergens. During our camp season it is our #1 priority to keep kids well nourished as well as safe. Having these processes in place can set a parents mind at ease that we truly care about their child’s well being.
To make sure we were in a position to do all of this, IHC recently took the initiative with all the renovations taking place in our Lodge to move our Special Diets area to a self contained location off the main kitchen to completely segregate, this eliminates runing the risk of cross contamination with our allergy free offerings. We also took it a step further by installing separate cooking equipment and ware washing so that it can operate independently to not cross contaminate our allergy free foods. As a best practice we also purchased “purple” small wares (utensils and serving equipment) to better identify the tools needed for our allergy-free area and not have them get into the general circulation of equipment. We also utilize plate covers when transferring food to the dining room for service as to not run the risk of cross contamination by an air borne source.
There are 8 major food allergens (soy, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, egg, milk, fish and crustaceans) and they are referred to as the “Big 8”. Camp IHC acknowledges these Big 8 allergens and will not serve them to our campers with allergies. For example we do not serve a traditional Caesar Salad Dressing as this contains anchovy. We also do not have seafood of any type on our camp menu in season other than tuna fish which is very easily identifiable. We do however serve foods that contain egg and dairy but we make our campers and counselors aware of the ingredient if it is in a prepared dish
We also caught up with AllerTrain CEO — Betsy to ask her a few questions about why the allergy training is so important in the summer camp industry.
Who are AllerTrain and what do you do?
AllerTrain was developed to train food service professionals of all levels on how to serve those with food allergies and special dietary needs. Developed in 2010 and launched in 2011 AllerTrain is the leading program for the commercial food service space especially among those who cater to those more then once a week such as colleges, universities, day cares and camps.
What sort of pre-cautions need to be taken when preparing food?
There may be to many to mention the individual items as they are many but in general, ordering of foods, substitutions and recalls, Prep and cooking of foods, service and flow of food to name the over arching areas in food prep and delivery before the camper eats.
What have the kitchen staff been learning from AllerTrain?
The course teaches food service professionals about the top foods causing food allergies, proper protocol for preparing food to avoid cross-contact and how to better serve diners with special dietary needs.
Would you like to see more camps doing what IHC is doing with food allergy training?
We would love to see more camps doing what IHC is doing and has done. With the numbers on the rise of food allergies in the country there is more of a need today then ever before for those that care for kids to have that care reach to special dietary needs.

There are 8 major food allergens (soy, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, egg, milk, fish and crustaceans) and they are referred to as the “Big 8”. Camp IHC acknowledges these Big 8 allergens and will not serve them to our campers with allergies. For example we do not serve a traditional Caesar Salad Dressing as this contains anchovy. We also do not have seafood of any type on our camp menu in season other than tuna fish which is very easily identifiable. We do however serve foods that contain egg and dairy but we make our campers and counselors aware of the ingredient if it is in a prepared dish
Camp IHC is a no peanut or tree-nut camp and has been for over 15+ years. We are also eliminating sesame as a proactive step as sesame is being researched by the CDC and may be added to the list of major allergens.
1 out of 13 kids has a food allergy, sensitivity or intolerance to food
30% of children with a food allergy are allergic to more than 1 type of food
between 1997 and 2008 peanut and tree-nut allergies have more than tripled in the United States
For our cooking classes and “Club and Clinic” classes we follow a very similar protocol when dealing with campers and allergies. We have a separate table set up that is free of allergens and only use appropriate ingredients that are also stored separately. We also use the same purple coded equipment to easily identify so that they don’t become comingled with the regular equipment and not to cross contaminate. The Allergen tables and equipment is cleaned and sanitized after each class as well.

