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IACC: Dietary guide - Coggle Diagram
IACC: Dietary guide
In recent years: significant increase in dietary and allergen requests.
New challenges and pressures
for meeting planners and venue
Dietary requirements: medical, religious or lifestyle nature
Dietary for personal preferences/to fit into dietary programs ≠ dietary for medical reasons or allergic reaction ≠ dietary requests for religious reasons
Allergy
Medical condition. Exposure to a food triggers harmful inmune response. Examples: hives, itchy mouth, difficulty breathing
Venue operators & meeting planners: must comply with food labelling legislation
Diets
Common diets
Vegetarian, vegan, pescatarian, ketogenic diet, paleo diet - MIND diet, flexitarian
Less common
Paleo, ketogenic, whole 30
Health related diets
Gluten free, celiac disease, diabetic
Religious - cultural diets
Kosher, Halal, Jainism, Baha'i, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam
Typical allergen & intolerances
Peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, fish, milk, eggs, soy, wheat & sesame (still being considered by the FDA pending proval)
Collecting the information from delegates
Best time to
collect information:
when the guest initially registers for the event
Delegate registration process: critical stage
Avoid open text book → "Any dietary requeriments"
Collecting the specifics of a delegate's allergen → required
Common diets
Vegetarian and vegan → some venues requires the information in advance
Glutten-free → regular choice. Important to know it in advance and add it in the registration form
Kosher and Halal → common requests. Must know it in advance: majority of venues need to acquire those meals
Other dietary requests → requests demanded as preferences need to be considered.
Important!
Any costs to be incurred by the delegate → must be included in the registration process
Information gathering at the registration stage
Decide in advance
→ how to categorise the dietary information and create specific fields
Review stage
→ time to review, collate and communicate requirements to the venue.
Venue:
needs time to review, plan and order food.
:warning:
Tip 1.
Ask for signature in the request form :warning:
If the allergens registration is separated from other diets → priority
:warning:
Tip 2.
Request that dietary needs are included in the event order :warning:
Supplementary charges & communicating needs with the venue
Must
consider
extra charges
In occasions → attendees can be
very specific
with food and beverage choices
:warning: Understand the supplementary charges → this may influence on the delegate’s requests
Venues: unlikely to charge a supplement because of allergen needs
Health & wellbeing at conferences & events
Event planners → seeking healthier options
Healthy meeting environments → improve delegate productivity
The World Obesity Federation → researched the meetings industry. In 2016 → Healthy Venues award
Communicating needs with the venue
Before the event → be aware of how the food will be served, type of meal options…
Send dietary and allergen information to the venue at least 7 days before
Categorise in: allergens/intolerances, dietary requests and specific religious requests
:warning:
Tip 3.
Suggest a cut-off date for any queries by return or requests to speak with delegates directly
Communicating with the delegate
Common dietary requests → include a simple acknowledgment in the registration confirmation
Complex request → replay it to the delegate in advance
:warning: Include information about what will be served, how will it be served and how the food will be labeled
Delegate contact with the venue
Sometimes, the venue → speaks directly to the delegate → discuss personal needs
:warning:
Tip 4.
Ask the venue to acknowledge in writing that they will comply with the requirements
During the conference or event
Delegates with allergen/dietary needs → don’t left feeling like second class citizens :warning: Work with the venue on a method→ identify guests with dietary restrictions
Delegate needs related with allergens/intolerances → further review with the meeting planner and the venue on arrival
Some key recommendations
Grain bread, pasta and rice
Fresh products
Appropriate portions sizes
Limit the use of salt