Updated February 2025

Warwick Food and Drink is committed to ensuring the highest standards of food safety are achieved.

Our mission is to:

Provide high quality food that meets the needs of all our customers and their allergen and dietary requirements.

Our aims are to:

• Support the needs of our customers with allergy or dietary requirements.
• Manage food safety risks including those presented by allergens.
• Ensure that foods are labelled accurately and information on menu ingredients and allergen content is available.
• Ensure as far as is reasonably practicable that foods are free from specific allergens wherever requested.

 

Warwick Conferences and Warwick Food & Drink is not an allergen-free environment. Our dishes are prepared in areas where allergenic ingredients are present and therefore, we cannot guarantee that any of our food, serving items, utensils or glassware are free of allergens.

The allergen and dietary requirements for your guests are sometimes a critically important part of placing an order with us. It is a matter of considerable responsibility given the significant health concerns linked to allergens and the principle or religious beliefs associated with many dietary requirements.

We therefore require that the selection of all items for an order is made by, and the responsibility, of whoever is placing your orders; we will not make dietary, allergen or ingredient selections on your behalf

On some occasions we may have alternative products sent to us via the supplier, these will be labelled accordingly highlighting key ingredients including allergens. We will aim to notify you of any change.

However, it is your responsibility as the organiser to advise anyone attending the event of these changes to ingredients, ensuring they get the relevant information.

 

You should always read the label before consuming.

 

Our team are available for support and advice during the planning and preparation for your event and we will work with you (as the Event Organiser) to ensure that all guests/delegates with allergens or dietary requirements are catered for and managed where possible/appropriately.

Warwick Conferences/Warwick Food & Drink acknowledges that customers from time to time may request allergen information or dietary requirements in order to protect their safety and well-being, or as part of their life-style. For this reason, the following categories of allergens or dietary requirements are recognised, and we will support with advice and provision where possible.

• Food allergies
• Coeliac disease
• Food intolerance
• Life-style and / or Religion
• Controlled intake

Examples of the afore mentioned may be found below, however these are by no means exhaustive. If delegates require any of the identified diets or indeed one that has not been identified within the list then your Events Manager for Warwick Conferences will be only too pleased to discuss any such requirements. Please could you communicate to your delegates the different types of dietary requirements and how they are managed during the event.

Providing information

There are two ways you can provide Warwick Conferences with the allergen and dietary requirements
for your event.

• Use the booking system for products listed where suitable
• Contact the office via the resource email on foodanddrink@warwick.ac.uk or call direct on 024 7657 2584

If you have a delegate attending your event who has very specific allergen and dietary requirements, please contact the office and we will discuss options to communicate direct with the guest

Dietary requirements and food allergies

As the organiser of the event, you can choose from our menu for all guests with dietary requirements:

• Refreshments
  Alternative products such as gluten free biscuits, pastries, soya milk, vegan or nut free items are available on request, see our menu for details and relevant prices.
• Finger & fork buffets
  Where you have requests for specific dietary requirements, you can review the suitable options on our menu, which are all priced individually.

Food allergy

A food allergen; is a food or ingredient which can cause an allergic reaction in predisposed persons.

An allergic reaction is a “response within the body, to a substance (in this case a particular type of food), which is not necessarily harmful in itself, but results in an immune response and a reaction that causes symptoms and disease in a predisposed person, which in turn can cause inconvenience, or a great deal of misery”.

Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction, that being the extreme end of the allergic spectrum. The whole body is affected, very often within minutes of exposure to a food allergen but can sometimes take hours.

The following foods and their derivatives have been recognised to commonly produce severe allergic reactions across the EU:

• nuts (tree nuts)
• peanut (legume)
• sesame seeds
• cereal - containing gluten (eg. wheat, barley, rye and oats)
• egg (all varieties)
• fish (all species)
• crustaceans (including crab, lobster and prawn)
• molluscs
• celery and celeriac
• milk
• soya
• mustard
• lupin
• sulphites and sulphur dioxide

Coeliac disease

Coeliac disease is a lifelong autoimmune disease caused by gluten found in wheat, barley and rye. Some predisposed persons may also be sensitive to oats. It is not an allergy or intolerance to gluten; however the immune system mistakes substances found inside gluten as harmful to the body and attacks them.

Food intolerance

Food intolerance does not involve the immune system. Reactions may be triggered by an inability to digest a particular food. Symptoms are not usually immediate, however can be unpleasant and severe in some cases and can affect long-term health, but are not normally life-threatening. There are many foods that people can be intolerant to, but the most common food intolerances are to:

• milk & lactose
• gluten and wheat
• preservatives
• naturally occurring compounds such as caffeine

Life-style / Religion

Through choices of their own or because of a particular denomination people may choose to follow a specific diet for example:

• kosher
• halal
• vegetarian and vegan
• pescatarian

Controlled intake diet

Some people may need to follow a strict diet in order to control a medical condition, such diets may include:

• diabetic
• low fat/cholesterol
• low potassium
• low/high fibre

For full Warwick Conferences allergen statement click here.