It was recently brought to my attention that amongst Zizzi’s and Ask Italian’s allergen information (in store and online) there’s one sentence in particular that collectively raised a lot of eyebrows in terms of cross contamination.
As shown below on the Zizzi allergen table (and also seen on the Ask Italian allergen information, both restaurants of which are owned by the Azzurri Group), the sentence in question stated:
‘Our boiled items, including pasta, are cooked in the same water as ingredients containing other allergens’.
In terms of cross-contamination of allergens, this statement raised a lot of questions when shared online, particularly about how gluten-free pasta is prepared. So in order to seek further clarification, I contacted Zizzi and Ask Italian for further elaboration and here’s what they had to say:
Zizzi and Ask Italian’s response
Here’s Zizzi’s response from Instagram:
Hi Becky,
Thank you for your comments surrounding our allergen menu.
We would like to assure you that we are a responsible Company with the serving of safe food our highest priority. Hopefully we will be able to provide some information to help clarify how we prepare our non-gluten dishes, in particular our non-gluten pasta.
We can confirm that importantly, our non-gluten pasta comes in individual pouches which are cooked to order, separately from our gluten containing pasta. Our staff also receive training on managing dietary requirements, including coeliac disease effectively. The controls we have implemented within our restaurants include training on the risks of allergen cross contact when handling and preparing foods and how to prevent this. Specific controls include the use of separate utensils and equipment and the use of fresh ingredients and handwashing during preparation. As a kitchen control we also only use gluten free semolina and flour in our kitchens to reduce the possibility of cross contamination during preparation.
We are committed to continually reviewing and improving our processes and information around allergies and dietary requirements and we will take the opportunity to review the wording of our allergen menu as we can see how this may be misleading. We do hope that we have provided some reassurance of our processes in the meantime.
Many thanks,
Zizzi
And here’s Ask Italian’s response on Twitter:
Hi Becky, Thank you for making us aware of how our messaging was coming across about our kitchen processes. As you’ve rightly discovered, our non-gluten pasta comes in individual pouches which we cook to order, separately from our gluten containing pasta.
We also train all our staff on managing dietary requirements, including coeliac disease effectively including how to prevent allergen cross contact when handling and preparing foods.
As part of this we use separate utensils, equipment and ingredients to make dishes for coeliacs and only use gluten free semolina and flour in our kitchens to reduce the possibility of cross contamination.
We’re committed to continually reviewing and improving our processes and information around allergies and dietary requirements and will certainly take the opportunity to review the wording of our allergen menu as we can see how this may have been misleading.
So what’s changed?
As a result of the online discussion about the wording of that one particular statement, both Zizzi and Ask Italian have as of today (20th of Feb 2023) added two asterisks next to it on their online menu which now state:
** Individual portions of non-gluten pasta are always cooked separately to order. (Zizzi)
**Non gluten pasta is always cooked separately to order. (Ask Italian)
This thankfully clarified the main concerns most of us had surrounding the preparation of gluten-free pasta.
But since the statement says that ‘boiled items’ are cooked in the same water as gluten-containing pasta, it still left me wondering about the potential for other ingredients (such as boiled vegetables for example) to be cross-contaminated.
So I asked Zizzi about this specifically too, notably about what other ingredients are cooked in the gluten-containing pasta water, and here was their response:
Our menu changes from time to time but it’s mainly our gluten containing dry, fresh and filled pastas that are cooked in boiled water. As long as we are made aware of a customer’s specific dietary requirement (and we always ask), items can be cooked separately.
The exception is our fried items where unfortunately allergen segregation is not possible. We of course recognise that gluten simply doesn’t disappear through the process of frying and we therefore detail fryer cooking in the allergen menu.
My final thoughts
I’ve always been a big fan of Zizzi in particular as you might remember here and always felt they understood my dietary requirements well in my local restaurant and those I’ve visited in London.
Though the now revised statement did concern me due to it’s openness to interpretation, with the added clarification, I am happy to hear they have procedures in place to prepare gluten-free pasta separately. I’m also grateful they took the time to add the asterisked information to clarify the preparation of gluten-free pasta especially for people like us.
And with regards to Zizzi’s response about other ingredients being cooked in the same water as gluten-containing pasta, it only further reinforces what I always emphasise whenever you eat out anywhere: let them know you’re gluten-free before ordering, use your own judgement and don’t be afraid to ask questions!
