FAQ

Upon successful completion of an audit, Kitchens with Confidence will certify your facility “free from” Gluten, Peanuts, Tree nuts, Eggs, Fish, Shellfish, Soy, Milk, and Wheat – based on the program you select. As part of the audit, we review your ingredients and products to add confidence that your staff has the tools to monitor, identify, and control allergens and gluten within your menu and ingredient lists. “Certified Free From” certifies that the kitchen procedures and menu items of certified facilities meet KWC’s CFF standards. (Due to variables out of the kitchen control, once a food item is past the serving line, there is no guarantee that it will remain free from allergens and gluten.) 

Kitchens with Confidence (KwC) conducts a comprehensive review of all ingredients and products for allergens prior to granting certification. Additionally, any products/ingredients that are added to the facility following the initial audit must be submitted and approved by KwC, as they will be checked to ensure they do not include any of the allergens or gluten the facility is “Certified Free-From™”.

You bet! In order to maintain any certification Kitchens with Confidence, all clients that are “Certified Free From™” allergens and/or gluten must test their facility and/or products for each allergen and gluten at a minimum of once a month and provide proof of those tests to Kitchens with Confidence.

Why test for allergens and gluten?

• Verify and validate allergen and/or gluten control programs
• Support certification by confirming food is maintaining “free from”
• Ensure food allergen safety
• Added value for your diners

• Immunochemical methods are the most specific and sensitive tests for continuous allergen monitoring
• Lateral flow devices (LFD)
  • Easy to use, rapid results, and affordable
  • Comprehensive testing of equipment/surfaces, raw ingredients, and finished products
  • Require validation to ensure that the test will be positive in the true presence of the allergen
• Kitchens with Confidence™ considers LFD testing paired with visual inspection of cleanliness to be a reasonable approach for monitoring allergen residues as part of a valid and verified allergen control program.

We recommend the following testing kits:

• Neogen Lab’s Reveal 3D (Egg, Crustacea, Gluten, Peanut, Soy, Total Milk) and Reveal for Multi-Tree Nut  
• Romer Lab’s AgraStrip® (Crustacea, Egg, Gluten, Milk, Peanut, Soy, Various Individual Tree Nuts)
• Hygiena AlerTox (Crustacea, Egg, Fish, Milk, Soy, Various Individual Tree Nuts) and GlutenTox

We are limited by what the testing can measure. Here are the limits for selected Neogen allergen test kits:

Allergen	Qualitative
Almond	5.0 ppm
Cashew	5.0 ppm
Hazelnut	5.0 ppm
Pecan	5.0 ppm
Walnut	5.0 ppm
Pistachio	5.0 ppm
Coconut	1.0 ppm
Egg	5.0 ppm
Soy	2.5 ppm
Gliadin	5.0 ppm
Gluten	5.0 ppm
Total Milk	5.0 ppm
Peanut	5.0 ppm
Crustacea	5.0 ppm
Fish	5.0 ppm

According to the FDA, foods may be labeled “gluten-free” if the food is either inherently gluten free or does not contain an ingredient that is a gluten-containing grain, such as barley or spelt wheat; derived from a gluten-containing grain that has not been processed to remove gluten, such as wheat flour; or derived from a gluten-containing grain that has been processed to remove gluten, such as wheat starch, if the use of that ingredient results in the presence of 20 parts per million (ppm) or more gluten in the food. KwC requires all clients that are certified gluten-free to adhere to the definition of gluten-free set forth by the FDA; gluten-free foods cannot contain more than 10 ppm.

A certified establishment or space will be provided with the audit report as well as a certificate of audit, which will display the name of the establishment, the area certified, the KwC certification seal, and the certified free from logo. The logo will depict the allergens that the facility has been found to be free from. The facility should proudly display their certificate of accomplishment in or near the area that has been certified.

Some aspects of the audit itself are similar; however, Kitchens with Confidence audits and services are voluntary while health inspections are mandatory. A KwC audit is encouraged for any establishment that feels they have gone above and beyond when catering to guests with allergens, any establishment that seeks verification of their current efforts, or any establishment that requires additional assistance in fine-tuning their allergen protocol.

Kitchens with Confidence is as much an advocate for their foodservice clients as they are for the diner with special dietary needs. KwC strongly views itself as a partner, and not the iron fist, of the foodservice industry. Each audit we perform is done with the goal to create winners, not losers. Our intention is always to promote success while providing opportunities for improvement.

You can, but the nature of a shared space creates a lot more potential for cross-contact. Get in touch with us to see if your shared facility will be able to qualify for certification. 

Costs are dependent upon services provided. Contact us at info@MenuTrinfo.com for more information.

Establishments who wish to maintain their accredited status with Kitchens with Confidence must be audited and certified on an annual basis.

Kitchens with Confidence takes its lead from the FDA:

The Kitchens with Confidence product approval process is consistent with and guided by the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act, 21 U.S.C. §343 et seq. (“FALCPA”).  FALCPA mandates that foods that contain a “major food allergen ” or a protein derived therefrom be appropriately labeled. An exception is made in FALCPA for “any highly refined oil derived from a food specified…and any ingredient derived from such highly refined oil.”   (Section 201 as amended by section 102(b)). Following this guidance, KwC will allow ingredients containing highly refined oils derived from allergenic ingredients to be used in CFF production.

MenuTrinfo is the proud owner of several certification schemes, including Certified Free From. Kitchens with Confidence provides best practice consulting and gap analysis, and is not consulting to pass the CFF audit. Going through a consultation with Kitchens with Confidence does not have any bearing on the Certified Free From audit duration, cost, or outcome. Taking part in this type of consultation will not make the audit cheaper, faster or easier.