This online allergen awareness course for childcare settings gives your team the knowledge to keep children with allergies and intolerances safe every time food is served. If your setting provides meals or snacks, the law requires you to be able to identify every ingredient in the food you serve — and this Level 2 course shows staff exactly how to meet that responsibility.
The course explains general allergies, food allergies and food intolerances, covers the fourteen allergens controlled by UK legislation, and looks at food additives and the risks they pose. It then moves from theory to practice, with detailed guidance on reducing allergen risk and monitoring the control measures your setting relies on.
What you’ll learn
- The basics of food intolerance and allergens
- Food intolerances: their causes and symptoms
- Allergies: their causes and symptoms
- Key allergen facts, including the fourteen allergens controlled by UK legislation
- Food allergens and the law, including your setting’s obligations
- Practical steps to reduce allergen risk and monitor control measures
- How to provide allergen information to consumers, parents and carers
Who this course is for
All childcare staff involved in preparing, serving or supervising food and snacks — from kitchen staff to room practitioners who hand out morning fruit. Because allergen incidents can happen anywhere food is present, many settings choose to run this course across the whole team.
Why this training matters
The Food Information for Consumers Regulation changed the rules for childcare settings across the United Kingdom: anyone who serves food must be able to provide information to those who need to avoid certain ingredients because of an allergy. For a nursery, that means being able to identify all ingredients in every meal and snack served to the children in your care. Certificated allergen awareness training demonstrates that your staff understand these obligations — evidence you can produce for compliance and audit.
How the course works
The course is delivered entirely online through media-rich learning with voiceovers, so staff can complete it at their own pace, on any device. It takes approximately two hours, and its practical steps for reducing allergen risk can be applied in your kitchen and rooms straight away.
Your certificate
On successful completion you will receive the Food Allergen Awareness (Level 2) course completion certificate, which can be used as evidence for compliance and audit and counts towards continuing professional development (CPD). National Nursery Training is an NFAQ-accredited provider, so your certificate carries recognised accreditation for your setting’s records.
