Food allergens, intolerances and lifestyle choices

Disclaimer - information about cross contamination

We rely on the ingredient listings of our food manufacturers and processors, and the reliability of our manufacturers and processors is a key component of Concordia Food Services’ overall approach to food quality and safety, including dealing with allergens. Based on our manufacturer’s information and a sophisticated system of food production management including transparency of recipes and ingredients, we can advise students which foods won’t contain ingredients with the allergens in question. However, because of the all-you-care-to-eat style of our dining halls, there is a risk of cross contamination so we cannot guarantee that our dining halls are ‘free’ of any of the priority allergens. Students must be the experts of their body and allergy, which gives them the power to decide which foods are safe or unsafe to consume based on the information we can provide.

Allergens/intolerances

Our registered dietitians have a pivotal role in ensuring that healthy and nutritious foods are well represented and identified across our locations, to help create the best possible dining experience while on campus. They work together to build the resident and retail menu each semester, adjusting the offering to better suit the growing needs of Concordia’s students and faculty. You will see them interacting with the campus community during their nutritional education events, so please feel free to take the opportunity to interact!

Communication is key when having an allergy and eating nutritiously. Individuals have responsibilities when it comes to self-management of food allergies. Let us know if you have any allergies or intolerances. Should menu listings seem unclear, please do not hesitate to ask any chef or manager, as well as the on-site dietitian so that we may have the opportunity to provide assistance.

Please reach out if you have any questions and let the dietitian know if you'd like to book a dining hall or café tour as well as a personal consultation by writing to ask.dietician@concordia.ca.

Vegetarian, vegan and halal diets

We take a lot of pride in being able to accommodate those with allergies, intolerances and special diets as much as possible. We have a number of students who follow a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle or Halal dietary laws and we do our best to support them each day. Our menu has a vast variety of protein- both plant and animal based sources. Look for menu identifiers which will indicate if an item is vegan, vegetarian, no gluten, or halal - they will allow for easy identification of menu items that are acceptable for you:

Here are some highlights from our menu at the residential dining halls:

• Vegan Entrée: Hot vegan offerings at our Home Zone station served daily
• Halal Entrée: Hot halal offerings at our Home Zone station served daily
• Vegan and Vegetarian options available at breakfast including smoothies, beans, tofu scrambles, vegan sausages and more
• A variety of made-to-order stations including pasta, deli, and salad bar which will have vegan and vegetarian options available
• Vegan ingredients in the MyFood (self-cook) Station such as vegan chicken strips, tempeh, and vegan cheese
• Daily vegetarian feature pizza
• Daily vegetarian/vegan soup of the day
• Creative variety of vegan desserts

Our definitions for vegan and vegetarian are as follows:

• Vegetarian: lacto-ovo definition, meaning no meat but may contain dairy or eggs
• Vegan: Contains no animal products or by-products