Meals & Food Allergies/Sensitivities

Note: This replaces the previous “Nuts in the Common House” Policy.

To protect people with food allergies and similar sensitivities, we agree to do the following for all community meals, including desserts:
 
The cook or assistant cook (or the person who brings a potluck dish) will provide complete ingredient lists, including ingredient lists from packaging.   Circle or highlight in some way anything from the known allergens list. 
  
The first person to start meal prep will thoroughly wipe down surfaces before prep to minimize any contamination from between-meals use of the kitchen.
 
The clean up team for each meal will make sure that equipment has been thoroughly cleaned and sanitized after an allergenic substance has come into contact with it.  This would include food processors, stand mixers, cutting boards, knives, and mixing spoons.  
 
A volunteer allergen list owner will be responsible for keeping the list of currently known allergenic substances up to date, rechecking it at least annually.  The list will be kept both online with this policy and in a prominent place in the Common House kitchen.  Some allergens (e.g., peanuts) may not be stored in the common house - contact the allergen list owner if you have requests. This will be noted prominently on the allergens list.
 
The Kitchen/Meals team will be responsible for making ingredient sheets for the kitchen that include known allergens, along with checkbox allergen labels for leftovers.