Sysco extends strategic partnership with Natasha’s Foundation

Sysco has renewed its long term partnership with Natasha’s Foundation, confirming a further three year commitment to help drive greater awareness, education and research into food allergies across the UK.

The renewed partnership builds on three years of collaboration between Natasha’s Foundation and the food and drink wholesaler, which encompasses brands including Brakes, Fresh Direct and M&J Fresh Seafood.

The organisations have already worked together to strengthen allergen understanding across the foodservice sector, develop practical tools that help food operators keep consumers safe and support the intent of Natasha’s Law, which came into force in 2021, requiring food outlets that package products onsite to provide a full list of ingredients on the label, with 14 allergens highlighted, including nuts and milk.

Sysco and Natasha’s Foundation’s initiatives include developing colleague training resources and digital content designed to translate complex regulation into clear, actionable information for cafés, caterers, schools and hospitality businesses.

According to Natasha’s Foundation, 2.4 million UK adults now live with a food allergy, one in 13 children are affected, and hospital admissions for severe allergic reactions have tripled in the past 20 years.

The Foundation continues to lead efforts to improve understanding, influence policy and fund pioneering scientific research around food allergy. The Natasha Clinical Trial, now running across nine NHS hospitals, is giving 300 children and young people with milk and peanut allergies oral immunotherapy (OIT) treatment using everyday foods. Natasha’s Foundation has also just launched Natasha’s Prize, a £10m global research prize focused on food allergy prevention.

Tanya Ednan Laperouse, founder of Natasha’s Foundation, said: “The unprecedented rise in allergic disease over the last 30 years means there has never been a more important time to understand what is fuelling the global allergy epidemic. So many people today are living with a food allergy, including one in 13 school children. We are delighted that Sysco is continuing its partnership with us in our mission to create a future without food allergy. Its support is funding the important work we are doing to raise awareness of food allergies and carry out new scientific research.”

Sysco’s renewed support will continue to fund the Foundation’s work across research, education and policy – including Allergy School, a free national programme reaching 21,000 schools, 240,000 teachers and six million children, as well as the Foundation’s ongoing advocacy for improved allergy management across the NHS and the appointment of a national allergy tsar.

Paul Nieduszynski, CEO of Sysco GB, said: “Food allergy affects millions of people in the UK, and the responsibility to keep consumers safe is shared across the entire food industry. Natasha’s Foundation has transformed national understanding of this issue – from the introduction of Natasha’s Law to the groundbreaking clinical trial now underway in the NHS. We are proud to continue supporting their mission and to play our part in helping customers, colleagues and communities build the confidence, knowledge and systems needed to protect people living with food allergies.”

Nadim and Tanya Ednan-Laperouse established Natasha’s Foundation after their 15-year-old daughter Natasha died in 2016 due to a reaction to sesame in a Pret A Manger baguette, with the coroner at an inquest into her death describing Pret’s allergen labelling as “inadequate”.