Carrie Anderson of Purdue Awarded As This Year’s Food Allergy Champion for Universities
This past Spring, Carrie Anderson from Purdue University was announced as the recipient of the 2017 Best Food Allergy Champion for Universities at the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago, Il.
AllerTrain by Menutrinfo has selected the top industry leaders in allergy training and awareness through their allergy awards. These awards are an annual way to recognize the hard work and dedication displayed for all those at the forefront. Carrie is a well deserving recipient of this year’s Food Allergy Champion for Universities award.
“I am humbled to be nominated for this award by my peers and honored to be the first recipient. My passion advocating for students with food allergies, along with the continuous support from my colleagues in Purdue Dining & Catering, has made it possible for countless students with food allergies to successfully live and dine at Purdue University,” said Carrie.
Ms. Anderson has been a passionate leader of food allergy education and has implemented multiple resources on Purdue’s Campus to ensure the safety of all diners. In 2002, Purdue was alerted of their first known peanut allergic student and Carrie was brought in to help make a dining plan for this individual student. The attention every student living with allergies has received on campus is impressive. She has taken the time to speak with parents, students and dining hall employees to ensure the safest environment for students living with a food allergy.
“Carrie has gone above and beyond her normal dining court supervisor duties to meet with current and future students and their parents about students’ allergies and concerns with eating in the dining courts” said Sarah C. Johnson, M.S., R.D., Director of Dining Services.
With a personal connection to food allergies, Carrie has become an enthusiastic advocate for students who need to avoid foods that are harmful for them. Since 2008 she has been lecturing, educating and presenting around the topic of food allergies and her first talk in 2008 was titled “I am the Parent of a Food Allergic Child”. Each year she is invited back to multiple conferences to continue educating food service professionals in hopes of maintaining a strong awareness for all those who serve food.
On Purdue’s campus she has established a Residential Dining Committee whose focus is to meet with parents and incoming students to create specific dining plans for each student on Purdue’s Campus. She has established an email that goes directly to her where she can answer all questions and address all concerns for diners. Students have a clear point of contact when attending Purdue and that person is Carrie Anderson. She takes every email seriously and has repeatedly paved a way to safe dining on campus.
Each year there is a Food Allergy Awareness Fair all new students are welcome to attend. The main purpose is to help diners manage allergies while living away from home in a new setting. Together with Carrie they create an allergy profile that details their known food allergies. These profiles are readily available to dining court employees.
In 2014, Carrie became a certified Master Trainer with AllerTrain and trains employees on Campus every year. All supervisory personnel and food administrators are trained through AllerTrain U and each month kitchens display the newest AllerSTAR poster that runs through a wide variety of training to ensure employees receive refreshers in training pertaining to food safety.
Purdue’s kitchens not only offer gluten free and allergen free foods, they also have begun using purple utensils and been trained in avoiding cross-contact when preparing food for students. Labels are abundant and allergy plans are in use for every special needs diner to ensure all who dine on Purdue’s campus are healthy, safe and well fed.
Carrie Anderson is currently a dining court supervisor at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN. She is an active food allergy advocate on campus and continues to strive for safe dining for all diners on campus. For more information regarding Purdue’s food allergy resources, visit https://dining.purdue.edu/Nutrition/FoodAllergies.html.
AllerTrain offers the only ANSI accredited food allergy and gluten-free training courses for the foodservice industry, and provides nutritional counseling and policy development. The courses have been approved to provide allergen training for both the state of Michigan and Montgomery County, MD. AllerTrain teaches foodservice professionals about the top foods causing food allergies, proper protocol for preparing food to avoid cross-contact and how to better serve diners with special dietary needs. Visit www.allertrain.com for more information.
