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Valentine’s Day Reminders for Sweet Success

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Valentine’s is right around the corner and while loved ones are fervently planning the perfect evening, you are assembling the team that will make it happen. But are food allergies and dietary restrictions being planned into your event? Here are just a few reminders to help make the evening a sweet success. Allergens Let’s face it, anaphylaxis isn’t sexy. Keeping an epinephrine auto-injector may or may not be an option in your state. It’s a life saving tool, so if it is available add it to your emergency kit along with at least one staff member trained in how to…

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New Jersey Governor Christie signs Epinephrine Access and Emergency Treatment Act
Food Allergies Laws & Regulations

New Jersey Announces that Stock Epinephrine Bill is Now Law

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New Jersey Governor signs into law “Epinephrine Access and Emergency Treatment Act” In December 2015 you may have read in the Thrive! blog that the New Jersey state Senate had unanimously approved legislation that would create a training program for anyone who wishes to administer EpiPens, especially coaches, teachers, and other professionals in a public environment. The legislation was written broadly enough to include restaurant, hotel, and convention workers. The New Jersey legislation, Bill A-4094/S-2884, titled, “Epinephrine Access and Emergency Treatment Act,” had been awaiting Governor Christie’s signature until Monday, January 11th, when it was signed into law. Epinephrine is a controlled substance and…

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climatarian is a diet whose primary goal is to reverse climate change
Dietary Needs Lifestyle Choices

Climatarian: What this New Food Word Means for Menus

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Climatarian: The Diet Based on Your Footprint – Your “Carbon-Footprint” Last month on Twitter, Shawna McKinley of MeetGreen tagged me while asking #eventprofs if any of them were planning menus for “climatarians.” That was my first introduction to the word and I’m so glad she shared it with me. In 2015, a social network called Climates popularized the term climatarian to describe those who make specific changes in their diet to minimize their carbon footprint. “Climatarian is an easy meat eating diet that’s good for the climate and good for your health.” The site discussed food as a massive contributor to greenhouse…

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The new Food Labeling Modernization Act of 2015 was introduced simultaneously to the U.S. Senate and to Congress
Food Allergies Laws & Regulations

A Spotlight on the New Food Labeling Modernization Act and Meetings

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The new Food Labeling Modernization Act of 2015 is important to the food allergic community and the meetings industry [list icon=”icon: check-square-o” icon_color=”#d81c5c”] The new bill will add sesame to the U.S. top allergen list The bill leaves out important provisions preventing cross-contact Unpackaged foods will need to declare allergens at point-of-sale [/list] New legislation, introduced simultaneously to the U.S. Senate and to Congress in November 2015 has serious implications for the meetings industry and is of significant importance to the food allergic community. Named, “The Food Labeling Modernization Act of 2015,” the purpose of the bill is “to amend the Federal Food,…

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2016 Top food and beverage Trends
Trends

2016 Top Food and Beverage Trends Offer Promising Options for Meetings

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From locally sourced to spicy, ugly, personalized and nostalgic, here Thrive! predicts the 2016 Top Food and Beverage Trends When thinking about the 2016 top food and beverage trends, the year will be a fascinating mix of creative menu design from source to finish. Recognizing the approach to food, processing and presentation, the guest experience, and even the kitchen itself are all on the table, so to speak, for the coming year. 1. Source Local. While organically grown and a lower carbon footprint can sometimes be at odds, it seems local trumps all. Food lovers want to know where their food is from.…

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Stock epinephrine laws can help keep attendees safe at meetings
Food Allergies Laws & Regulations

2015 Saw Dramatic Increase in Epinephrine Laws Across the U.S.

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Epinephrine Laws Enable Venues to Stock and Educate Staff on this Life-saving Medication When someone experiences a severe allergic reaction, their first line of defense is epinephrine, a drug that treats many signs of anaphylaxis all at once. Up until the last few years, epinephrine was only allowed to be purchased with a personal prescription or administered by trained medical staff. Today, as food allergy reactions increase and awareness for this potentially life-threatening condition grows, the call for epinephrine laws to allow “stock” EpiPens in places like schools, restaurants, convention centers, and even airplanes, has escalated. For those individuals who…

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Food Trends from 2015
Trends

Launch into the New Year with the Best Food Trends from 2015

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From Bar Carts to Beer, Here is How and What We Ate in 2015 As 2015 comes to an end, it’s time to review the lessons of the past year and welcome a new year of successes and challenges. Let us know what you thought of the best food trends from 2015. [list icon=”icon: check-square-o” icon_color=”#d81c5c”] Restaurants and events have seen a return of bar carts for cold and warm dishes. This vintage touch has the benefit of transportation efficiency and satisfaction of the immediate supply of additional condiments and other requests. Gourmet comfort foods were added to menus across the nation this year.…

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Food Allergies Laws & Regulations

Allergy Labelling in the European Union: How Confident is the Freefrom Customer when eating out?

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Food businesses and their staff need more training to better manage the expectations of the FreeFrom customer A year ago the European Union enacted EU1169 requiring that all food served directly to consumers – pre-packaged and unpackaged – list any of the 14 food allergens they contained. Our friends at Food Allergy Training Consultancy (FATC) wanted to see how the freefrom community thought food service business were doing in meeting the regulations for allergy labelling in the European Union. Below are the results from the survey they did, reprinted with permission from Food Allergy Aware. Since the European Union introduced the Food Information Regulations…

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Thrive!'s Meal Ticket System Helps Streamline Dietary Needs Management
Dietary Needs

Introducing Meal Tickets to Simplify Dietary Needs Management

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Meal Tickets Help Identify and Communicate Important Information One of the biggest challenges meeting planners and catering managers face is the efficient accommodation of the spectrum of allergies, religious restrictions, and dietary choices of attendees. As the founder of Thrive!, Tracy Stuckrath is very familiar with the increasingly common outcry around dietary needs management, “I wish there was a clear, organized system for identifying and accommodating the dietary restrictions of our attendees – without slowing down service.” In answer to this challenge, Thrive now offers standard and customized Meal Tickets! By implementing Thrive’s Meal Ticket system, dietary needs management just got easier. Through the use of diet…

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Stock epinephrine laws can help keep attendees safe at meetings
Duty of Care Food Allergies

Advancements in Epinephrine Can Actually be Valuable for Event Attendees

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New State Entity Laws Give Venues Opportunity Save Lives Since I wrote this post in May on the historic law that makes Georgia safer for event attendees, I’m excited to be able to add 15 more states to the list of those allowing places of public accommodation (hotels, convention and conference centers, restaurants) to stock epinephrine. If you have a family member or friend with a food allergy, you’re probably familiar with epinephrine. According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), epinephrine is used for the emergency treatment of life-threatening allergic reactions caused by allergens, whether from food…

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