My Working DayAs the gluten-free food list manager with the Coeliac Society of Ireland, Anne Manning has a lot on her plate. But it's a job she finds very rewarding
Coeliac disease is a lifetime intolerance to gluten. If people with coeliac disease eat gluten, it damages their intestines. Definitely it's not to be recommended.
The overall aim of the society is to safeguard, promote and protect the interests of our members in relation to the coeliac condition. One per cent of the population in Ireland has coeliac disease and we have around 7,000 members.
My eldest son was diagnosed coeliac as a baby and I got involved with the society after that.
I'm in charge of putting together the gluten-free food list for our members, which is a comprehensive booklet of processed foods that are gluten free.
A gluten-free food is a food without wheat, rye, oats or barley, nor has it been cross-contaminated by those cereals.
This year the booklet is about 280 pages long and it includes most of the brands of food and drink and vitamins and over-the-counter remedies that are available in the supermarkets.
I update the list annually and I also put smaller updates out every month by e-mail or on the phone line or through our newsletter.
We have also put together a new catering booklet for restaurants, hospitals, retirement homes, hotels, anyone who's doing gluten-free catering.
I work from home. On mornings when I have a lot of documentation to put into databases I try to start around six because it's grand and peaceful at that time and I am focused, so I get a lot done.
Otherwise, I usually start work around 8.30am. I get e-mail queries about the food list from members, so I try to get those answered before 9am.
I also try to make phone calls to manufacturers in the morning before lines get busy.
I deal with other queries throughout the day. For example, today, there is one from a member about an airline that had promised him a gluten-free meal on a flight but he did not get it. That is hard to deal with because it involves dealing with a huge organisation, but I will write to them and explain what coeliac disease is. I think the best way is to offer help, not to jump in there and complain.
It is the same when dealing with food-manufacturing companies. I try to build up good relationships with the individuals there.
It is a job where I have to keep on top of the work because I am dealing with hundreds of manufacturers. I visit the supermarkets throughout the year and know who is making and distributing what.
Most weekends I would pop into supermarkets to have a quick look but then I would also call officially, so I go to the manager. I could spend three hours going around Tesco, because I have to know from a customer viewpoint what's out there.
A dietitian vets the documentation before it goes into the food list but, for the most part, I work on my own, which I like.
Doing the booklet can be very painstaking, there's a lot of checking, and I have to be very thorough, so in that way it's good to be working on my own. Maybe it is after having reared a family of six kids that I have the ability to get through the work.
I feel I am helping people; the list gives a reassurance to people when they are shopping.
I always recommend that people check labels as well, but this booklet gives them a good guide.
For more information log on to www.coeliac.ie