Under UK law, you’re not legally required to provide information about allergens unless your activity is registered as a food business. Neither London Homestays nor its hosts operate as a food business. We operate in the English language, education and accommodation market. Although hosts may offer food e.g. if you are booked on a half-board basis, they are not professional chefs and do not have special training in the preparation of food or in food allergies. Any price difference between the different meal plans is not for the host or our agency to make a profit from serving food, it is simply to cover the cost of the food itself.
We at London Homestay recognise that some food allergies are potentially life-threatening, while other intolerances could cause discomfort and digestive issues. If you do suffer from a food allergy of any type, whether life-threatening or mild, we strongly recommend you book a meal plan in which you will have control of what you eat i.e. self-catering.
If you do suffer from an allergy to food and do decide to book a meal plan in which food is provided, please note this is done against our advice and is at your own risk. We will pass any allergy information given on to the host and although we are sure the host will make every effort, neither we nor the host can 100% guarantee that there won’t be traces or more of the allergen in the food provided. This is because hosts are not professional and are simply providing an extra portion of a meal they would make for themselves in a household kitchen environment where allergens are likely to be present.
If you are an agent or a school booking on behalf of a third party, please note that you are responsible for making the above information known and understood by your client.
THE 14 MOST COMMON FOOD ALLERGENS
- Eggs
- Milk
- Peanuts
- Tree nuts
- Fish
- Shellfish (such as crab, lobster, prawns and crayfish)
- Molluscs (such as mussels, whelks, oysters and snails)
- Mustard
- Celery
- Wheat (and other cereals containing gluten, such as barley and rye)
- Sesame (and other seeds)
- Soybeans
- Lupin (flour made from lupin seeds can be found in some bread, pastries and pasta)
- Sulphites (sulphur dioxide)
