The Allergen Bureau is pleased to announce that Monash Health and the Monash Health Central Production Kitchen was selected as the winner of the 2020 AIFST Allergen Bureau ‘Julie Newlands Award’ for best practice food allergen management in Australia.
The award was presented to Imran Hanif and Peter Fischer from the Monash Health and the Monash Health Central Production Kitchen Team by award judge Kirsten Grinter (Allergen Bureau President and Nestlé Australia) at the 2020 AIFST Virtual Awards Ceremony on 8 July 2020. If you weren’t able to attend on the night, or would like to watch it again, the ceremony is available to view HERE.
Imran says “Winning this award means a great deal to the team at Monash Health. It is a great recognition for all of our staff involved with the production of allergen free meals and for our team in identifying and implementing best practice for healthcare catering. This recognition would highlight the needs of patients and encourage other hospitals to provide nutritious meals to the patients.”
Award nominations were evaluated by the selection committee based on their contribution to a consistent, science-based approach to food allergen risk assessment, management and communication that assists allergen sensitive consumers to make informed choices based on label information; and guides industry best practice in Australia.
In awarding this award to Monash Health and the Monash Health Central Production Kitchen, the judges noted that:
- They were taking allergen management responsibility seriously and to the next level.
- They are forward thinking and taking a practical step-by-step approach to their production planning and allergen scheduling.
- Their allergen management approach was innovative in providing allergen free meals – and was not something they had seen anyone else do
Monash Health and the Monash Health Central Production Kitchen receives a complimentary registration for a representative to attend the NZIFST Conference 2021, including a return economy airfare to New Zealand and three nights’ accommodation.
“We would like to thank AIFST and the Allergen Bureau for this opportunity” said Peter. “The award prize of travel and attendance to the conference in New Zealand will be a great opportunity to continue to build our knowledge of allergen management and also provide us with new ideas to improve patient meal service for Australian Hospitals”.
The judges commended each award nominee for their application and the great work that each of them is doing in food allergen management.
We thank our award selection committee of Kirsten Grinter, Allergen Bureau and Nestlé Australia (Chair); Jody Aiken, Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia; and Dr Simon Brooke-Taylor, from Brooke-Taylor & Co and member of the Allergen Bureau VITAL Scientific Expert Panel.
The award is named in honor of Julie Newlands, inaugural Director and the first Honorary Treasurer of the Allergen Bureau Ltd. The Allergen Bureau thanks the Newlands family for kindly allowing us to name this award in Julie’s memory.
