751071FAMEClosedVouchersInnovate UKThere are an alarming and growing number of food allergy and intolerance sufferers in the UK and across the EU. In 2012 total sufferers (representing 18% of the population), comprised 600,000 coeliacs, 1.5m allergy sufferers, and 10m food intolerance sufferers and they are projected to grow to 28m (40% of population) by 2022.The rapid growth in food allergies and intolerances has prompted the EU to introduce a Directive (EU1169/2011), applicable to all 27 EU member states and enforceable in December 2014, placing the same standards of food information upon all catering operations as those required for retail packaged food. As a result, over 400,000 catering establishments with approximately 1.5m catering employees will be obliged to take urgent measures to ensure that they are compliant with the Directive.After 3 years of qualitative and quantitative research, Food Allergy Management Europe Ltd (FAME) has developed a suite of solutions to address the needs of both food allergy and intolerance sufferers and catering establishments. FAME will provide food service operators with the ability not only to comply with the new Directive but also to take control of their training while simultaneously serving the needs of an important yet under-served market segment. With the objective of establishing an industry-recognised 'safe eating' service mark, FAME has developed solutions including:• Quality food safety, handling and allergy training materials• Catering equipment allowing food business operators to compartmentalise their operations to reduce risk of cross-contamination. • Business and consumer-facing IT interfaces providing timely and accurate nutritional and allergy information for suppliers and consumersThe prime advantage of FAME to the food service sector is that there will be a single identified supplier offering a holistic and integrated approach to managing the risks prevalent in the entire food service supply chain, which will ensure a legacy of safe eating, satisfied clients and a reduction in costs to the NHS. To do this there is a need for a comprehensive database of ingredient information and the use of technology for speed, accuracy in terms of ingredient handling throughout the supply chain, from farm to plate for all sizes of businesses including SMEs. FAME's objective is to create the systems, tools and training to address these issues.