Allergen & Dietary Info
No matter the occasion or dietary need of your guests ‑ The Catering Company
has a range of delicious options to savour and enjoy!
OUR APPROACH
Here at The Catering Company, we understand the importance of special catering services for those with food allergies and intolerance, health or lifestyle needs or religious dietary needs.
We provide a wide variety of scrumptious gluten free, dairy free, nut free, fructose friendly, vegetarian and vegan foods as well as cater to special diets such as pregnancy friendly or diabetic and religious dietary requirements such as Halal and Kosher.
If you’re having difficulty navigating your client’s dietary needs, call us to discuss your requirements and our in-house nutritionist will do their best to offer some delicious finger food catering, event catering and corporate catering options!
STANDARD VEGETARIAN COMPONENT
Unless specified we provide (as standard) a 30% a vegetarian component with each order.
CROSS-CONTAMINATION INFORMATION
Specific dietaries such as fructose friendly, gluten free, dairy free or vegan are wrapped and labelled separately to avoid cross-contamination**
OUR ABBREVIATIONS USED FOR DIETARY CATERING
- gf GLUTEN FREE
- df DAIRY FREE
- ff FRUCTOSE FRIENDLY
- nf NUT FREE
- vgn VEGAN
- v VEGETARIAN
UNDERSTANDING ALLERGIES & DIETARY REQUIREMENTS
Allergen free food is becoming more prevalent than ever before. In fact, 1 in 5 Australians currently live with a food intolerance or allergy so it is crucial that people are aware of the many different types of allergenic foods.
FOOD ALLERGY VS. FOOD INTOLERANCE
Food intolerance is different to food allergy. Unlike food allergies, food intolerances do not involve the immune system and do not cause severe allergic reactions, known as anaphylaxis. Food intolerance can be caused by chemicals that are found naturally in foods or by chemicals that are added to foods. More common dietary intolerances include; milk, eggs, peanuts, soy and wheat. While the most common dietary allergies include: gluten, nuts and shellfish.
GLUTEN FREE
A Gluten Free diet excludes the protein gluten. Gluten is found in grains such as wheat, barley & rye, just to name a few.
COELIAC – We can not cater for Coeliac, a Gluten Free choice is the best option
In people with coeliac disease (pronounced ‘seel-ee-ak’) the immune system reacts abnormally to gluten causing small bowel damage. People with coeliac disease would strictly avoid any food product containing gluten. (Source: Coeliac Australia)
DAIRY FREE
A Dairy free diet excludes milk and milk derivatives including: cheese, yoghurt, cream, butter, milk powders, milk solids and whey to name a few. All Dairy free items are without lactose.
FRUCTOSE FRIENDLY
A Fructose friendly diet avoids foods made up of components that include sugars. As fructose is found naturally in many foods including honey, wheat, fruits and vegetables, it is very difficult to label anything “fructose free” hence our Fructose Friendly items are classed as low in fructose.
VEGAN
A Vegan diet excludes all foods derived from animals including: meat, poultry, fish, dairy products, eggs and sometimes honey (it depends on the vegan!) plus any other animal-derived food additives.
WE STRIVE TO CREATE SIMILAR ALTERNATE DISHES
Please keep in mind that we will do our best to provide similar alternate meals where your dietary requirement is concerned, but sometimes may need to substitute some food items depending on what is seasonally available.
A FINAL NOTE
** Please be aware that we make every effort to eliminate the risk of cross contamination however our kitchen uses ingredients that contain most common food allergens and there may be traces in your meal. They include but are not limited to dairy, eggs, gluten, soybeans, seafood, peanuts, sesame, tree nuts, lupins & soy and other allergens.