A guest at the table asks, quietly, "Is there any nut in this?" The chef is in the galley. You do not actually know, and the guest is waiting, and you would like to be helpful. There is exactly one correct answer: "I will check with the chef." Never guess. A guess can kill.
The major allergens
The 14 allergens regulated in UK and EU food law - learn them:
| Cereals containing gluten (wheat, rye, barley, oats) | Crustaceans (prawn, crab, lobster) |
| Eggs | Fish |
| Peanuts | Soybeans |
| Milk | Nuts (almond, hazelnut, walnut, cashew, pecan, brazil, pistachio, macadamia) |
| Celery | Mustard |
| Sesame seeds | Sulphur dioxide/sulphites (above 10 mg/kg) |
| Lupin | Molluscs (mussels, oysters, squid) |
Reactions run from mild itching to anaphylaxis - airway swelling, collapse and death within minutes. Trace amounts can be enough, and cooking does not destroy allergens.
Controlling allergens
- Ask, record and brief: capture guest and crew allergies in the pre-charter preference sheet, write them up, and brief every crew member. Re-confirm at the table.
- Cross-contact is the allergen version of cross-contamination: a shared board, a shared fryer, a used spoon, flour dust, a crumb. Prevent it with separate equipment, separate storage (allergen-free items above), dedicated preparation, and washed hands and utensils before starting.
- Read every label, every time - recipes and supplier formulations change.
- Tell the truth. If you do not know, say you do not know and find out. "It should be fine" is how people die. This is a legal obligation and a moral one.
HACCP - the system behind everything else
HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) is a systematic way of identifying what can go wrong and controlling it. Commercially operated yachts are expected to run a documented food safety management system based on HACCP principles.
The seven principles:
- Conduct a hazard analysis - list biological, chemical, physical and allergenic hazards at every step of the food journey.
- Identify the critical control points (CCPs) - the steps where control is essential (cooking, chilled storage, cooling, reheating).
- Establish critical limits - the measurable line (core 75 degrees C for 30 s; fridge at or below 5 degrees C).
- Establish monitoring - who probes, how often, and where it is written down.
- Establish corrective action - what you do when the limit is breached (cook longer, discard, move the food, call the engineer).
- Establish verification - checks that the system works: probe calibration, supervisor review, swabs, audit.
- Establish documentation and records - the logs, schedules and forms that prove it.
What the interior crew actually do in it
You are the monitoring and the corrective action. You take the fridge temperatures and write them down. You probe the hot-held food at the buffet. You reject the delivery. You sign the cleaning schedule. You report the fault, the pest, the illness. The chef or chief stew may own the plan, but the plan is worthless without the person who writes the real number in the box at 0700 - and who raises a hand when the number is wrong.
Onboard Notes
Yacht guests do not fill in forms; they mention an allergy in passing to a stew, who must get it to the chef immediately. Confirm allergies in writing before every charter and again at the first meal, and know where the guest's own adrenaline auto-injector is kept.
Scope note: xplor is not an approved centre or an accredited training provider. These lessons are preparatory study only - no certificate and no regulated qualification is awarded here. The Level 2 food safety award must be sat and assessed with an approved centre of a regulated awarding organisation.