Food Safety
The revised EYFS framework requires Grafton Childcare to take all necessary steps to keep our children safe and well – and we must be confident that those responsible for preparing and handling food here at Grafton Childcare are competent to do so.
Tragically, a child dies in the UK every month from choking and hundreds more require hospital treatment. It can happen quickly and it can happen to anyone.
Babies and young children’s immune systems are not as strong and developed as adult’s which means they are more vulnerable to infections which can lead to food poisoning. We understand how important it is to take extra care with hygiene and preparing food safely here at Grafton Childcare.
Here at Grafton Childcare we understand that our staffing arrangements must meet the needs of all our children and ensure their safety especially whilst eating.
Before any child starts at Grafton Childcare parents will provide us with lots of information about any special dietary requirements, preferences and food allergies that their child has, and any special health requirements, so that we can meet their child’s specific dietary needs.
We have a well equipped kitchen in which Phil our cook prepares a whole range of healthy home cooked meals and our practitioners are able to prepare snacks and drinks for the babies and children as necessary.
We also have suitable sterilisation equipment to sterilise all of our bottles, beakers, cups, mugs bowls and jugs etc after each use.
We are confident that the whole Grafton Team who are responsible for preparing and handling food are competent to do so and we are delighted to let our parents know that all staff involved in preparing and handling food receive regular training in:-
and Phil our Cook and Denise our Manager have also completed their :-
How to reduce the risk of choking for Under 5’s
Here at Grafton Childcare when we are preparing our morning and afternoon fruit and vegetable snacks for our children we do the following, which you may wish to consider doing at home to reduce the risk of choking:-
Supervision Whilst Eating
We insist that all our children are seated in an appropriately sized chair, seat, bench, scaffolding plank, tree trunk or low chair whilst eating. Which is why when sometimes your child may arrive munching on a piece of dad’s bagel we always insist that they sit down to finish it.
Most importantly we never leave the children alone while they are eating, and all of our staff are familiar with paediatric first aid advice on choking. Sadly there have been far too many deaths in recent years where these two simple rules have not been adhered to!
We constantly remind children to chew and enjoy what they have in their mouths before putting more in ... little, by little.
Food and Drinks we Avoid
Drinks
Here at Grafton Childcare we only provide fresh water via our water cooler which the children can access themselves as required, or plain milk for our children to drink. All our milk is delivered from Dunns Dairy on Dartmoor in recyclable glass bottles.
We know that fruit juice, smoothies, squash, fizzy drinks and flavoured milks, even when diluted, contain lots of sugar and can cause tooth decay. Sadly diet or reduced-sugar drinks are not recommended for children either. For older children, these drinks can fill children up so they’re not hungry at mealtimes, so should also be avoided.
We are able to offer our children dairy alternatives to cow’s milk should their parent request it.
Foods to avoid up to 5 years
Safe weaning
Here at Grafton Childcare we can support the progression from the introduction of first foods (at about 6 months), to a range of blended or mashed foods, and then to a wider range of chopped or minced foods which will be a gradual process, based on each infants’ developmental readiness, rather than a staged process based on age alone and we will always be guided by our parents wishes.
The Start4Life website has lots of helpful information for parents regarding safe weaning if parents need some support and advice on their child’s weaning journey.
Infant formula bottles
Here at Grafton Childcare we know how important good hygiene is when making up any formula feeds. We know that our babies’ immune systems are not as strong as adults’ therefore all bottles, teats and feeding equipment need to be washed and sterilised before each feed we use Milton to do so. We always follow each manufacturers guidelines in preparing infant formulas.
Allergies
Here at Grafton Childcare we are able to work really closely with our families to support children with allergies or intolerances. This is because everything we provide is prepared and cooked on the premises each day by Phil our Cook and served by our staff.
As part of our Starting Points when a child joins Grafton Childcare, we will ask parents to supply us with detailed information about their children’s special dietary requirements – including food allergies and intolerances – before they attend, and use this information to meet each child’s specific dietary needs.
We have protocols in place, to ensure everyone is aware of an individual child’s allergies and symptoms.
As part of our Safety Food Better Business requirements we record each day what allergens are present in any meals we serve here at Grafton Childcare, so that if a parent should need this information we have it readily to hand.
Hygiene
All the food here at Grafton Childcare is stored, prepared and presented in a safe and hygienic environment. We know how especially important this is when providing food for young children, as they may have a low resistance to food poisoning.
To support this the children are taught basic hygiene themselves from a very early age, such as not eating food that has fallen on the floor, and washing their hands with soap and warm water before eating meals or snacks and after going to the toilet, before baking activities, after messy play or handling animals etc.
All foods we provide are throughly cooked, and is then cooled sufficiently before giving it to infants and young children to prevent them burning themselves.
We regularly wash all surfaces for preparing or eating food, especially chopping boards, with hot soapy water. All of the children’s crockery and cutlery are washed with hot soapy water. Additionally all of the children’s bottles, cups and beakers are then sterilised with Milton after they have been washed. We have specific coloured tea towels and blue kitchen cloths which are changed frequently throughout the day and washed daily because we are very aware that they can harbour lots of germs.
Further information on food hygiene check out this link:
We are delighted to hold the maximum grading of a 5 overall via the Food Standards Agency and Local Authority Scheme.
Page created 14th January 2014, updated February 2021
The revised EYFS framework requires Grafton Childcare to take all necessary steps to keep our children safe and well – and we must be confident that those responsible for preparing and handling food here at Grafton Childcare are competent to do so.
Tragically, a child dies in the UK every month from choking and hundreds more require hospital treatment. It can happen quickly and it can happen to anyone.
Babies and young children’s immune systems are not as strong and developed as adult’s which means they are more vulnerable to infections which can lead to food poisoning. We understand how important it is to take extra care with hygiene and preparing food safely here at Grafton Childcare.
Here at Grafton Childcare we understand that our staffing arrangements must meet the needs of all our children and ensure their safety especially whilst eating.
Before any child starts at Grafton Childcare parents will provide us with lots of information about any special dietary requirements, preferences and food allergies that their child has, and any special health requirements, so that we can meet their child’s specific dietary needs.
We have a well equipped kitchen in which Phil our cook prepares a whole range of healthy home cooked meals and our practitioners are able to prepare snacks and drinks for the babies and children as necessary.
We also have suitable sterilisation equipment to sterilise all of our bottles, beakers, cups, mugs bowls and jugs etc after each use.
We are confident that the whole Grafton Team who are responsible for preparing and handling food are competent to do so and we are delighted to let our parents know that all staff involved in preparing and handling food receive regular training in:-
- Food Allergy Awareness
- Food Premises Cleaning
- Food Safety & Hygiene (Level 2)
- Health and Safety in the Workplace
- Illness and Infection Control
- Kitchen and Catering Practices
and Phil our Cook and Denise our Manager have also completed their :-
- Advanced Food Safety and Hygiene (Level 3)
How to reduce the risk of choking for Under 5’s
Here at Grafton Childcare when we are preparing our morning and afternoon fruit and vegetable snacks for our children we do the following, which you may wish to consider doing at home to reduce the risk of choking:-
- we remove any stones and pips from fruit before serving
- we cut small round foods, like grapes, strawberries and cherry tomatoes, lengthways and into quarters
- we cut large fruits like melon, and hard fruit or vegetables like raw apple and carrot into slices instead of small chunks
- we do not offer raisins and sultanas as a snack to children – although we may include them as part of a meal eg. in a curry.
- we know that sausages should be avoided due to their high salt content, and if offered to children these should be cut into thin strips rather than chunks and remove the skins.
- here at Grafton Childcare we buy our own special recipe of sausage meat direct from Bakers the Butchers with no salt added to the mixture. Phil then uses this to create his own meatballs using a mixture of his own herbs and spices and most importantly no salt and no skins.
- we remove bones from meat and fish
- we do not serve any nuts or seeds at Grafton Childcare to our children
- we cut cheese into strips rather than chunks
- we no longer give popcorn as a snack
- we do not give children marshmallows or jelly cubes from a packet either to eat or as part of messy play activities as they both pose a significant choke hazard
- we do not serve hotdogs, hot dogs are big choking culprits so cut them in half and lengthways, really narrow if you eat these at home!
- remember anything smaller than a 2p coin can get stuck
Supervision Whilst Eating
We insist that all our children are seated in an appropriately sized chair, seat, bench, scaffolding plank, tree trunk or low chair whilst eating. Which is why when sometimes your child may arrive munching on a piece of dad’s bagel we always insist that they sit down to finish it.
Most importantly we never leave the children alone while they are eating, and all of our staff are familiar with paediatric first aid advice on choking. Sadly there have been far too many deaths in recent years where these two simple rules have not been adhered to!
We constantly remind children to chew and enjoy what they have in their mouths before putting more in ... little, by little.
Food and Drinks we Avoid
Drinks
Here at Grafton Childcare we only provide fresh water via our water cooler which the children can access themselves as required, or plain milk for our children to drink. All our milk is delivered from Dunns Dairy on Dartmoor in recyclable glass bottles.
We know that fruit juice, smoothies, squash, fizzy drinks and flavoured milks, even when diluted, contain lots of sugar and can cause tooth decay. Sadly diet or reduced-sugar drinks are not recommended for children either. For older children, these drinks can fill children up so they’re not hungry at mealtimes, so should also be avoided.
We are able to offer our children dairy alternatives to cow’s milk should their parent request it.
- We are happy to supply formula powdered milks for our babies up to 12 months after which time they will be transitioned onto cows milk or a plant-based milk as directed by parents.
- Or unsweetened calcium-fortified, plant-based drinks, such as soya, oat and almond drinks. We supply these drinks from 12 months as part of a healthy balanced diet.
Foods to avoid up to 5 years
- Nuts, especially peanuts, can cause severe allergic reactions in some children and as part of our allergy plan we do not serve these at Grafton Childcare. Similarly whole nuts, peanuts and seeds should not be given to children under 5 years old as they pose a choking risk, so we do not serve these either at Grafton Childcare.
- Raw eggs, or food containing partially cooked eggs, for example uncooked cake mixture and runny boiled eggs .
- Foods high in salt such as: sausages, bacon, crackers, crisps, ready meals and takeaways.
- Sugar – both in sugary snacks and by not adding sugar to food.
- Foods high in saturated fat such as biscuits, crisps and cakes.
- Fresh pate (meat, fish or vegetable-based) to reduce the risk of food poisoning.
- Unpasteurised milk, milk drinks and cheese, mould-ripened cheeses and soft blue-veined cheese, to reduce the risk of food poisoning. However, these cheeses can be used as part of a cooked recipe as listeria is killed by cooking.
- Shark, swordfish and marlin as the levels of mercury in these fish can affect a child’s developing nervous system.
- Raw shellfish to reduce the risk of food poisoning, we occasionally add prawns to our fish pie mix but these are always thoroughly cooked.
- Raw jelly cubes – these are a choking hazard and are not something we serve at Grafton Childcare anyway because of the high sugar content.
Safe weaning
Here at Grafton Childcare we can support the progression from the introduction of first foods (at about 6 months), to a range of blended or mashed foods, and then to a wider range of chopped or minced foods which will be a gradual process, based on each infants’ developmental readiness, rather than a staged process based on age alone and we will always be guided by our parents wishes.
The Start4Life website has lots of helpful information for parents regarding safe weaning if parents need some support and advice on their child’s weaning journey.
Infant formula bottles
Here at Grafton Childcare we know how important good hygiene is when making up any formula feeds. We know that our babies’ immune systems are not as strong as adults’ therefore all bottles, teats and feeding equipment need to be washed and sterilised before each feed we use Milton to do so. We always follow each manufacturers guidelines in preparing infant formulas.
Allergies
Here at Grafton Childcare we are able to work really closely with our families to support children with allergies or intolerances. This is because everything we provide is prepared and cooked on the premises each day by Phil our Cook and served by our staff.
As part of our Starting Points when a child joins Grafton Childcare, we will ask parents to supply us with detailed information about their children’s special dietary requirements – including food allergies and intolerances – before they attend, and use this information to meet each child’s specific dietary needs.
We have protocols in place, to ensure everyone is aware of an individual child’s allergies and symptoms.
As part of our Safety Food Better Business requirements we record each day what allergens are present in any meals we serve here at Grafton Childcare, so that if a parent should need this information we have it readily to hand.
Hygiene
All the food here at Grafton Childcare is stored, prepared and presented in a safe and hygienic environment. We know how especially important this is when providing food for young children, as they may have a low resistance to food poisoning.
To support this the children are taught basic hygiene themselves from a very early age, such as not eating food that has fallen on the floor, and washing their hands with soap and warm water before eating meals or snacks and after going to the toilet, before baking activities, after messy play or handling animals etc.
All foods we provide are throughly cooked, and is then cooled sufficiently before giving it to infants and young children to prevent them burning themselves.
We regularly wash all surfaces for preparing or eating food, especially chopping boards, with hot soapy water. All of the children’s crockery and cutlery are washed with hot soapy water. Additionally all of the children’s bottles, cups and beakers are then sterilised with Milton after they have been washed. We have specific coloured tea towels and blue kitchen cloths which are changed frequently throughout the day and washed daily because we are very aware that they can harbour lots of germs.
Further information on food hygiene check out this link:
We are delighted to hold the maximum grading of a 5 overall via the Food Standards Agency and Local Authority Scheme.
Page created 14th January 2014, updated February 2021
| food-standards-agency-certificate.pdf |
| gc-allergen-policy.pdf |