Our University became the Turkish partner of the ERASMUS+ KA220 ETDTFA (Education and Training Development for the Treatment of Food Allergies) Project, which addresses the issue of food allergies in the HoReCa sector, through Assoc.Prof.Dr. Mustafa YAVUZ, faculty member of IMU Department of History of Science, and Asst.Prof.Dr. Havvanur YOLDAŞ İLKTAÇ and Asst.Prof.Dr. Burcu AKSOY CANYOLU, faculty members of IMU Department of Nutrition and Dietetics. Our university shared the partnership of the project coordinated by Budapest Business School (BBS) from Hungary with Portucalense University (UPT) from Portugal and János Selye University (JSU) from Slovakia.
Recognizing that food allergies, which is one of the most important causes of anaphylactic reactions today and is defined as an abnormal response of the immune system to nutrients, is an important public health problem, the project aimed to develop and implement trainings on the management of food allergies for HoReCa sector managers, employees and higher education students who create employment in the sector in order to protect human health.
In the project, firstly, national and international legal regulations on food allergies were examined, the effectiveness of the current legal system was evaluated and good examples in practice were examined. The researchers then interviewed representatives of the HoReCa sector, relevant non-governmental organizations and legal authorities to assess the current conditions on food allergies, existing problems and expected demands for their solutions. As a result of these efforts, suggestions and content for training programs were created to improve the quality of education provided to students of sector-related university departments. The research results were also used to create trainings for sector managers and employees to improve service quality in the sector. With these trainings, it was aimed to control access to foods that pose allergy risks through information and regulations in the food market and food supply chains, and to eliminate health risks that customers may experience due to food allergies by providing safe food service to customers.
The first outputs of the 25-month project will be shared in Portugal at a workshop to be held in October 2023 and the second workshop will be held in Istanbul in 2024.