As any parent will know, feeding children can be a challenging, frustrating and time-consuming task. Add to that the responsibility of catering for other people’s little ones on a large scale, with a focus on organic, ethically sourced produce, plus a plethora of different dietary requirements to consider, you really have got a job on your hands!

But that’s exactly what makes Sean Gobbi, catering manager at the Little Green Rascals Organic Day Nurseries group based in North Yorkshire, tick. With around 450 hungry little mouths a day to feed, Sean fully appreciates his responsibilities.

“It is our responsibility to ensure the safety of all our children on a daily basis, as babies up until pre-school these young people do not yet have the immune system development to try to fight any substance that could be detriment to their health,” he explained.

“We work with nearly 50 different dietary requirements, including some severe allergies to ingredients not on the official allergen list, so we treat this responsibility with the utmost importance.”

With some of the nurseries’ young charges allergic to common foodstuffs such as tomatoes, eggs, and coconut, keeping track of ingredient lists is essential, as is accurate labelling of every dish, including those prepared separately for the children with special dietary requirements. For these reasons, as well as the forthcoming introduction of new PPDS food labelling regulations known as Natasha’s Law, Sean decided to invest in Allergen Checker’s ‘Plus’ package, and says the system is ‘a lifeline’.

“Allergen Checker has been integrated into each of our seven Little Green Rascals sites, and it is proving to be a real lifeline,” he said. “Mark (owner of Allergen Checker) manages our data inputting, ensuring that all our information is completely accurate, and saving us a huge amount of time.

“All that is left to do for us is to print off the label that corresponds with the dish we are producing and attach them to the products. The information that is displayed instantly lets the chefs and the nursery practitioners know exactly what is present in every dish.

“The peace of mind Allergen Checker gives us married with the procedures we have in place already means that we can be 100 per cent confident we have done everything that we can to keep our future generation as safe as possible.”

Before joining the nursery group, Sean amassed four decades of catering experience, beginning at the tender age of 14 as a weekend washer-upper for his chef father, then learning his trade in hotels and in more recent years as head chef at a large events company. Originally from Brighton, he’s lived in York now for around 20 years and admits he “loves it”.

Little Green Rascals Organic Day Nurseries describes itself as the city’s first organic and eco-conscious children’s day nursery, launching in 2009 and caring for more than 900 families in and around York. The seven nurseries are located at Tadcaster Road, Elvington Lane, Bishopthorpe, Flaxton, Haxby, 7 Minster Yard, and Poppleton.

Owned by entrepreneur Vanessa Warn, the idea was born from her desire to create childcare that could provide all things natural and organic – no added nasties in food or skincare. The business ethos is such that anything bought into the nursery has to be eco-friendly, sustainable and have as little impact on the environment as possible. Toys are made from natural and sustainable materials and even the electricity is sourced from an ethical supplier.

Organic menus are prepared in-house daily by trained chefs, featuring herbs and vegetables from their own kitchen gardens. There is one meat-free day per week and children are encouraged to regularly try new ingredients and flavours. The menus are rotated every 16 days and are seasonal to ensure they are always using the best possible produce.

Sean said: “We use as much organic food as we can, including all our meat, fish, eggs, fruit and vegetables, and source it from local suppliers such as Anna’s Happy Trotters and the Organic Pantry.”

The Little Rascals mealtimes comprise breakfast, a mid-morning snack, lunch, mid-afternoon snack, and a late-afternoon tea. The menus wouldn’t look out of place in a top restaurant and feature such tantalising treats as chicken chasseur with potatoes and broccoli; home-made tuna and sweetcorn pizzas; oatcakes with creamed beetroot, soft cheese and figs; and rhubarb cake.

Sean added: “Children can be fussy eaters as we all know, and introducing new things can be trial and error. An example is kedgeree, which is full of goodness but naturally some kids didn’t like it. So I adapted it into a ‘fish curry’ with rice and made it more saucy, and now they love it!

“We’re a completely nut-free environment, and we use minimal amounts of sugar and salt. We cater for all sorts of dietary requirements and parental preferences, including vegan and vegetarian.”

With 13 catering staff across the seven sites, thanks to Allergen Checker everyone is working to the same system and processes, with zero improvisation, minimising any potential margin for error.

Sean concluded: “We act as the children’s ‘second parents’, so looking after their diet and nutrition and keeping them safe from potentially harmful ingredients in their food is just as important to us as it is to their actual parents.”

Visit Little Green Rascals Website