Creating inclusive school meals for children with food allergies

For children with food allergies, school mealtimes can bring additional challenges. Ensuring every child can enjoy a safe, inclusive and enjoyable meal requires careful planning, collaboration and a commitment to continuous improvement.

At Norse Group, our catering team has transformed its approach to allergen management, introducing a single Allergen Aware Menu designed to reduce risk while maintaining choice and variety for children and young people.

Reducing risk, improving choice

In Norfolk, Norse Group’s catering team provides more than 15,000 meals every day, including meals for 564 children and young people registered as requiring a special diet menu.

Previously, our catering teams produced 12 different allergen-aware menus alongside the standard and plant-based menus. This meant some of our busiest kitchens were preparing and serving multiple menus every school day, increasing complexity and the potential for error.

Following a detailed review, we worked with Megan Sims, an independent Registered Nutritionist (RNutr) specialising in public health nutrition, to explore how other school catering providers managed allergies and identify opportunities to improve.

This led to the introduction of one Allergen Aware Menu, a common approach across the education catering sector that removes the top 14 allergens. By simplifying processes, the approach helps reduce the risk of cross-contamination while making it easier for kitchen teams to prepare and serve meals safely.

A menu built around inclusion

The Allergen Aware Menu closely reflects the standard weekly menu, offering two to three hot meal choices every day alongside a packed lunch option.

Our Menu Development Team works closely with suppliers to identify allergen-friendly products, trial new recipes and adapt existing dishes wherever possible. For example, our homemade BBQ sauce was redesigned by replacing vinegar containing wheat with lemon juice, ensuring it remains suitable for children requiring an allergen-aware option.

Every menu is carefully checked by multiple colleagues to provide confidence for families that meals are safe, suitable and inclusive.

Supporting children and families

Launching the new approach involved more than changing menus. We updated policies and procedures, created kitchen process maps, introduced revised registration forms and provided additional resources to support kitchen teams.

Alongside existing allergen training, kitchens now use allergen folders and colour-coded utensils to help reduce the likelihood of cross-contamination.

We also established a Parent Steering Group to better understand the experiences of children with allergies and their families. Feedback has helped us introduce allergen-aware picture menus, tasting sessions for new recipes, FAQs for parents, and stronger links with the NNUH Paediatric Diet Team to support families with specific queries.

Feedback from parents of children with allergies has been overwhelmingly positive, with many highlighting the reassurance and confidence the service provides when children start school.

One parent shared:

“So many parents of children with allergies find starting school really daunting and often opt for pack lunches. Having the picture menu really helps with showing families what they could be having.” 

Another parent added:

We know that the deal our daughter gets from Norse is so much better than many coeliac children at other schools across the country.” 

Continuing to pursue better

Norse Group’s catering team is proud of the safe and inclusive approach it has adopted to allergen management. We believe a child’s school lunch experience should not be limited by their allergy.

By listening to children, families and experts, we continue to improve our service and create a catering experience where safety, choice and inclusion go hand in hand.