Food Safety & Hygiene
Because we're all sharing homemade food, there are a few simple things we ask everyone to keep in mind when preparing and bringing their dish.
Before you cook
Wash your hands and make sure your work surfaces and equipment are clean.
Keep raw meat, poultry and eggs separate from ready-to-eat food.
Make sure ingredients are within their use-by dates.
When cooking
Cook meat, poultry, fish and other high-risk foods thoroughly.
Take particular care with foods containing eggs.
Follow the cooking instructions for any ingredients you're using.
Keeping food safe
Keep chilled foods refrigerated until you're ready to leave.
Don't leave perishable food sitting at room temperature for longer than necessary.
Use a cool bag or cool box with ice packs when transporting food that needs to stay chilled.
Keep food covered during transport.
When you arrive
Let us know if your dish needs to be kept chilled or requires any particular handling.
We'll have a designated area for the food, and we'll ask that dishes remain covered where possible until we're ready to eat.
Use the serving utensils provided rather than handling shared food directly.
Please stay home if you're unwell
Please don't attend Grab A Plate if you're feeling unwell. We want to keep everyone safe and well, so if you're not feeling 100%, please stay home.
Allergens
Because Grab A Plate is a shared homemade food event, we'll collect allergen information for every dish and display it alongside the food at the event.
When you complete your pre-event form, we'll ask you to tell us which of the 14 legally recognised allergens are present in your dish. You don't need to provide your full recipe or list every ingredient. This information will be displayed alongside your food at the event.
The 14 allergens are:
celery
cereals containing gluten (such as wheat, rye, barley and oats)
crustaceans (such as prawns, crabs and lobsters)
eggs
fish
lupin (including lupin seeds and products made from them, like lupin flour)
milk
molluscs (such as mussels and oysters)
mustard
nuts, specifically tree nuts (such as almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, brazil nuts, cashews, pecans, pistachios and macadamia nuts)
peanuts
sesame
soybeans
sulphur dioxide and sulphites (at a concentration of more than ten parts per million)
Please don't guess about allergens.
If you're unsure whether something you have used contains an allergen, check the packaging or manufacturer's information before submitting your form. This can be particularly important for things like stock, sauces, spice mixes, chocolate, pastry and condiments. If a packaged ingredient has a "may contain" or similar allergen warning, please include this information too.
As dishes are prepared in people's own kitchens and then brought together in a shared environment, we cannot guarantee that any dish is completely free from an allergen or that cross-contamination has not occurred.
If you have a food allergy, please speak to us before eating and use the allergen information provided to make your own informed decision. If you have a severe or life-threatening food allergy, this event may not be suitable for you