Bakkavor Continues Its Commitment to Allergy Awareness and Leadership in Food Safety
As Allergy Awareness Week 2024 commences (22nd-28th April), Bakkavor proudly reaffirms its ongoing partnership with the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, championing significant advancements in food allergy research and safety. This year’s theme, ‘Your voice matters: make it count,’ underscores the crucial role of community and dialogue in tackling the challenges presented by food allergies.
Operating in a complex environment, Bakkavor acknowledges the critical importance of allergen management by adopting a practical and common-sense approach to support its robust food safety standards, ensuring the safety of its products for all customers.
In February, Bakkavor were honoured to have Nadim Ednan-Laperouse, one of the co-founders of the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, attend its leadership conference. Nadim’s daughter tragically lost her life due to a severe allergic reaction to a food product, and his presentation inspired Bakkavor’s global senior leadership team and helped cement the importance of allergen management across the business and the industry.
Following its announcement in 2023 that the Group was doubling its support for the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, the company has successfully raised over £20,000 through additional charity events.
Tanya and Nadim Ednan-Laperouse OBEs: ‘We’re thrilled that Bakkavor is supporting our charity. Your support will help us to carry out important medical research and achieve our mission of making allergy history. Thank you – your voice matters”.
Bakkavor’s contributions have been pivotal in funding ground-breaking initiatives such as The Natasha Clinical Trial, which explores cost-effective treatments for food allergies through oral immunotherapy. Additionally, its donations have supported medical bursaries for students in Southampton University’s Allergy Master’s and PhD programmes.
Recent studies suggest that if no action is taken, two-thirds of the UK population could suffer from a food allergy by 2060*, with a notable increase in children affected and hospital admissions related to allergies. This makes Bakkavor’s mission to drive industry-wide progress and set new safety standards more urgent than ever.
Mike Edwards, CEO of Bakkavor: “Our approach to allergen management is a core business priority. As the UK’s leading food manufacturer, Bakkavor is keen to shape a safer future that will benefit everyone. It was a huge pleasure to meet Nadim once again, and welcome him to our leadership conference in February, thereby strengthening our ongoing relationship and reinforcing our commitment to allergen safety as a business.
“The work that the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation does is incredibly impressive and has the potential to significantly impact the world of food manufacturing positively. We are proud to continue our support for the Foundation as a long-term charity partner and to make this organisation a focus of our fundraising efforts. Additionally, we are making great progress as a business in setting the quality standard for allergen management in UK food manufacturing, and our mission is to continue driving this forward.”
*Professor Sir Stephen Holgate, Medical Research Council Clinical Professor of Immunopharmacology at the University of Southampton https://www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2023/02/stephen-holgate-speech.page
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