Why Allergen Safety in Travel Needs to Change — Insights from Food Allergy Aware’s Founder, Caroline Benjamin
posted 15th December 2025
In the world of travel, from airlines to cruise liners, food should enhance the journey, not endanger it. Yet for millions of travellers with allergies or intolerances, simply ordering a meal at 30,000 feet or stepping into a cruise ship buffet can become a stressful and life-threatening gamble.
To understand why, and what needs to change, TickEat spoke with Caroline Benjamin, Founder of Food Allergy Aware. Caroline has dedicated her career to improving allergy safety and training, driven in part by her own lived experience navigating allergies as both a chef and a consumer.
What she shared with us reveals an industry still far behind where it needs to be, but also full of opportunity for travel operators and F&B suppliers ready to lead.
From Chef to Allergy Advocate: A Personal Journey
Caroline’s career began in kitchens. Trained as a chef, she worked across foodservice until, after having her son, she developed intolerances herself.
“It took years to realise what was going on,” she explains. “And once I did, I saw a huge gap in the market. Supermarkets were improving their free-from ranges, but there was almost nothing around training.”
Then came a turning point: the introduction of the Food Information Regulations (FIR) in 2012–2013.
“That’s what really dictated the direction I went in,” she says. “The industry needed support, and training became the obvious solution.”
Today, Caroline trains hospitality businesses, travel operators and international regulators, raising awareness of allergens, cross-contamination risks and communication failures that can cost lives.
Travelling With Allergies: Why It’s Still So Difficult
1. Poor communication from operators
According to Caroline, one of the biggest barriers is that travel providers simply do not tell passengers what they can and cannot provide.
“Airlines and cruise ships rarely make allergen information easy to find,” she says. In many cases, FAQs or signposting to the right contact person are missing entirely. On one cruise she reviewed, none of the allergen protocols were publicly available.
“When I asked who I should contact about allergen arrangements, they said, ‘Oh, the F&B operations manager’. But no one ever told me they existed.”Passengers are effectively left to fend for themselves.
2. Airline meal systems are outdated and restrictive
The current IATA meal codes, which airlines use for special meals, are a major issue.
“You can order gluten-free. Or you can order dairy-free. But you can’t order both,” Caroline explains. “For anyone with multiple allergens, it becomes impossible to get a meal that’s safe.”
Even when upgraded to business class on a recent flight, Caroline wasn’t provided full ingredient information.
Experiences also vary drastically depending on crew knowledge: “You might get one crew who completely understand allergens, and another who laughs and says, ‘You’ve got your EpiPen, haven’t you?’”
As Caroline stresses, an EpiPen is not a magic fix. It only buys time.
3. Training gaps put passengers at risk
Caroline frequently encounters situations where staff simply have not received adequate training.
“On one cruise, I asked a chef if he’d completed allergen training,” she says. “He said yes — about 30 minutes of it. He couldn’t name the 14 allergens.”
Terminology is also routinely misunderstood. Many operators use “lactose-free” when they actually mean dairy-free. This can be life-threatening for those with milk allergies, as lactose-free products still contain milk protein.
Even hospitals, Caroline notes, make this mistake — highlighting how widespread the confusion is.
Inside Cruise Liners: What Suppliers Must Understand
Caroline’s work with cruise lines offers valuable insight into what F&B brands should consider if they want to supply into the sector responsibly.
1. Think globally — allergens aren’t universal
A cruise line departing from the UK must consider the EU’s 14 allergens. A US-based supplier may only recognise nine. Asian travellers often have different dietary needs, with around 60% experiencing dairy intolerance. Brands must design products with flexibility, clarity and international compliance in mind.
2. Understand supply chain rigidity
For example, some cruise lines source everything from the US, even for European or Middle Eastern routes. Changing a single product can require a lengthy, bureaucratic process.
More concerning is that digital ingredient data does not always match what is physically in the storerooms. When substitutions occur, they are not always updated in allergen management systems. This has directly led to situations where passengers could not eat safely.
3. Cross-contamination control must be robust
On one cruise Caroline experienced, the kitchen used a mayonnaise containing dairy, the front-of-house used a dairy-free version, and salads were premixed with powdered dairy. Even when safer ingredients were available elsewhere on board, they were not used consistently. A supply chain must not only be robust, but also accurate and flexible.
What F&B Suppliers Can Do to Lead the New Standard
Caroline believes suppliers have a major opportunity to help transform allergen safety in travel. Her advice for brands working with airlines or cruise lines includes:
Remove allergens where possible
Review recipes to see which regulated allergens can be omitted or substituted without impacting quality.
Offer multiple safe options
A single gluten-free or dairy-free dish is not enough. Passengers with multiple allergies must be considered.
Guarantee accurate, up-to-date allergen information
Digital records must match physical products at all times.
Support proper training
If operators are using your products, they must know exactly what is in them and how to handle them safely.
International Perspectives: Training Across Borders
Caroline has worked internationally, including with Dubai Municipality, to help shape better allergen awareness and training frameworks. Some regions, such as Dubai, enforce strict food safety standards, while others remain inconsistent.
Travel often crosses multiple regulatory systems, making training and compliance even more essential. Even major airlines struggle. On one flight, Caroline was served a meal containing barley, despite ordering a gluten-free, dairy-free meal.
“When I asked the crew if they’d heard of Natasha’s Law, they hadn’t,” she recalls. A stark reminder of how awareness varies worldwide.
The Path Forward: People First, Always
Complex regulations, outdated systems and inconsistent training all contribute to unsafe environments for travellers with allergies. But we believe it is human stories that drive real change. People don’t connect with policy documents; they connect with human experiences.
Travellers like Caroline, and tragic cases like Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, have pushed the travel sector forward before, but not far enough. With continued advocacy and better collaboration across the industry, travel can and must become safer.
At TickEat, we believe the next era of travel F&B must be transparent, compliant, inclusive and safe by design. Caroline’s insights highlight exactly why.
