Food Allergies
Wake Forest Dining and Deacon Health take food allergies and sensitivities very seriously. Many students, faculty, and staff have allergies and/or sensitivities to foods such as nuts, wheat, milk, eggs, and others. We strongly recommend that everyone on campus who has such an allergy or sensitivity contact Dining Services at 336-758-6410 before or upon their arrival on campus so that we may become familiar with their particular needs and concerns.
Our dining staff has taken the following steps to help make dining in our facilities both safer and more comfortable:
- Newly installed nutrition kiosks provide recipes and ingredient lists for all of our menu items to help customers identify dishes that may contain allergens.
- We attempt to label all items containing nuts clearly and to keep them separate from other items (for example, peanut butter) to reduce the risk of cross-contamination.
- We have revised our menus to significantly reduce the number of dishes containing nuts and do not use any nut oils.
- Alternative milks are offered in all dining halls for students with milk allergies to use. Please ask for assistance in locating the refrigerators where the alternative milks are stored.
- We train our chefs, managers, and servers to be aware of food allergies and sensitivities and also provide them with education about ingredients, label reading, education, and identification.
- We are members of The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN), a non-profit organization dedicated to serving those with food allergies and sensitivities and their families.
- Our main residential dining facility, the PIT, is a peanut and tree nut free facility – we do not serve any nuts, tree nuts, nut butters or use any nut oils at the PIT.
- Guests with food allergies have a variety of food resources on-campus available to them. In our main residential dining facility, we offer an allergen friendly dining station called True Balance. This station serves nutritious, wholesome food that does not contain any of the Top 8 allergens. Additionally, most of our on-campus dining options provide allergen friendly dining options and our convenience stores have a variety of safe, allergen friendly, packaged goods for our guests.
- While we work diligently to make our dining halls as safe as possible for those with food allergies, we strongly encourage you to ask the chefs and/or servers questions about particular bakery or menu items and their ingredients. It is our hope that you find your dining experience to be a pleasant one, and will gladly meet with you to help create an eating plan that meets your nutritional needs. Be advised that ingredients and nutritional content may vary. Manufacturers may change their product formulation without our knowledge, and product availability may fluctuate. While we make every effort to identify ingredients, it is ultimately the responsibility of the customer to judge whether or not to question ingredients or choose to eat selected foods.
- When possible Residence Life and Housing pair students with the same or similar allergens. Note that this is not always possible based on the responses of the incoming class.If you have a severe allergy and need specific accommodations, please be sure that you follow our Disability-Related Accommodation process to help us best meet your needs.
Contact
- To discuss available resources, any necessary avoidance measures in campus dining facilitates, or to report an incident, students can contact Madison Fishler, Health & Wellness Manager/Registered Dietitian in Dining Services at fishler-madison@harvesttableculinary.com (336) 758-6410.
- For additional information and medical assistance (e.g., prescriptions for epi pens) in managing food allergies, please contact the Deacon Health. at apptshs@wfu.edu or336.758.5218 to schedule an appointment.
- Learn more about food allergies from the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network at foodallergy.org.
