The below notice was sent to school districts from the Governor's office, please review it and if your child has any food allergies that the school cafeteria does not yet know about, please contact Dan Baker at 585-584-1027 to inform him.

MEMORANDUM

 To:                   Food Service Establishments/Operators

 From:               Genesee and Orleans County Health Departments (GO Health) Date:   September 1, 2023

Subject:           Food Allergen Notice

For your information, on November 21, 2022, Governor Hochul signed into law New York State Senate Bill 8102A, which, through the creation of a new section 1356 of Public Health Law, requires food service establishments to post a notice to their employees raising food allergy awareness. The notice must contain information on 1) the process to follow when a customer notifies an employee of a food allergy, 2) how to avoid cross-contact, and 3) the procedures to be followed in the event a customer experiences an allergic reaction, including when to call 9-1-1. The notice must be posted in a conspicuous location, and in at least one of the languages spoken by each employee, provided those languages are among those translated by the New York State Department of Health (DOH).

 The law also requires that food service establishments include the following statement on their menu or menu assembly: "If you have a food allergy, please notify us," along with a message informing customers that allergen information is available for prepared food items. If the menu is written in a language other than English and is one that DOH makes a translation for, the menu statement must be written in that language. Online menus must also include this statement, and a method by which a customer can indicate if they have a food allergy.

 In response to this law, the Department created the attached Food Allergy Awareness notice containing information for food service establishment employees on food allergies. This notice, and the required menu statement, are available on the DOH website in English as well as the top six languages spoken in New York State.

Genesee Email: health@co.genesee.ny.us I GOHealthNY.org I Orleans Email: OCPublicHealth@orleanscountyny.gov