Ethics Approval Form and Guidance

Appendix 1. Ethics Approval form and Guidance
Request for ethical approval for research undertaken by
staff, post-graduate research and post-graduate professional students
Please submit your completed form to your supervisor who will, after approval,
forward to the chair of, or representative of, your subject research ethics
committee (SREC)
The outcome from the ethics committee will be one of the following:
APPROVED – you may collect data
APPROVED WITH RECOMMENDATIONS – you may collect data after discussing the
recommendations with your supervisor and taking any action agreed with your
supervisor
APPROVED SUBJECT TO CONDITIONS – you may NOT collect data until the
conditions have been met and agreed in the first place with your supervisor and
confirmed by the ethics committee
NOT APPROVED – a new study must be planned
Your Name
School / Faculty
Subject Research
Ethics Committee
Staff / Student ID
e-Mail address
Programme name /
code
Name of
supervisor(s)
Title of proposed research study
Background information
Has this research been funded by an external
organisation (e.g. a research council or public
sector body) or internally (such as the RLTF
fund)? If yes, please provide details.
Have you submitted previous requests for
ethical approval to the Committee that relate
to this research project? If yes please provide
details.
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Are other research partners involved in the
proposed research? If yes please provide
details.
Signatures
The information supplied is, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
accurate. I clearly understand my obligations and the rights of the
participants. I agree to act at all times in accordance with University of
Derby Policy and Code of Practice on Research Ethics:
http://www.derby.ac.uk/research/uod/ethics/
Signature of applicant
Date of submission by applicant
Signature of supervisor (if
applicable)
Date of signature by supervisor (if
applicable)For Committee Use Reference Number (Subject area initials/year/ID number)
......................
Date received ................................... Date considered
...........................................
Committee decision .............................................................. Signed
...........................
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1. What is the aim of your study? What are the objectives for
your study?
Aim of the study
The aim of the study is to analyse whether the growth of gluten-free foods
sustainable in the hotel industry? The study will be based on the working scenario of
restaurant Cafe du Parc of Hotel InterContinental the Willard Washington D.C.
Objectives of the study
S- To study the lived experience of the owners of the restaurant in using gluten-free
items in their food menu
M- To measure the comparative experience of the owners between gluten free food
and food containing gluten.
A- Open ended semi- structure interview will be able to understand the lived
experience
R- since the interview will be taken within the hotel industry, the analysis will be
realistic
T- The analysis will be completed by 1 week.
Gluten is a naturally occurring protein found in some grains like wheat, rye,
barley and spelt. Other grains that contained are gluten wheat berries, semolina, emmer,
durum, farina, graham, faro, triticale (mixture of wheat and rye), einhorn and khorasan
wheat. Oats though free from gluten, often have traces of gluten resulting out of cross-
contamination as oats are processed under same facilities as all other grains that contain
gluten (Jnawali, Kumar and Tanwar 2016). It acts as a binder, holding the food particles
together and providing a stretchy quality to the food. Gluten is sold as wheat gluten or
seitan. It is a popular high-protein food consumed by vegan. Less obvious sources of
gluten are monosodium glutamate (MSG), lecithin, soy sauce, modified food starch and
other medications and vitamins (cross-contamination or use of wheat starch as coatings)
(Fiedler et al. 2014).
Consumption of gluten-containing grains like wheat, rye and barley leads to the
development of celiac disease. It is a systemic immune disease common among the
population of Europe and North America. The disease prevalence is higher among the
people who are genetically pre-disposed (first-degree relatives having celiac disease)
(Silvester et al. 2016). However, the interplay between the genetic and environmental
factors regulating the balance between the tolerance and immune response towards
gluten is still not clearly understood. The presence of intestinal infection, increased
consumption of gluten free food, the composition of the micro-biome of the intestine
and infant feeding practice are few of the reason behind the disease development among
the children (Lionetti et al. 2014). Non-celiac gluten sensitivity leads to the development
of irritable bowel syndrome. The spectrum of gluten-related disorders has increased in
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recent times. Apart from celiac disease (CeD), consumption of gluten cause diseases
like non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) disease and wheat allergy. The symptoms of
non-celiac gluten sensitivity are diarrhoea, abdominal pain or discomfort, bloating and
flatulence. At times it also includes headache, lethargy, hyperactivity disorder, attention-
deficit disorder and flatulence, skin allergy and recurrent oral ulceration. The numbers
of people or consumers who have problems consuming foods containing gluten are
increasing drastically in Europe. Such that when visiting restaurants, people are trying to
avoid food made of oat, barley, rye and wheat starch (Oliveira et al. 2014). This is
because, See et al. (2015) reported that having a gluten free diet can help to prevent the
development of CeD or NCGS disease. In Europe, only few public catering bodies are
found to cook meal based on the guidelines of gluten-free diet. Even though the
restaurants claim to offer gluten-free diet especially for the celiac consumer, it is not
guaranteed that the food will be prepared in accordance with the gluten-free guidelines.
However, consumers who have problem with the consumption of gluten containing food
are an increasingly important customer segment for the distributors and manufactures of
gluten-free food (Thompson 2015). The price of gluten-free foods does not have a major
impact in the overall frequency of visiting the restaurants. However, giving special
discounts and special offers, help to increase the footfall of people in restaurants who
loves of consume gluten-free foods or for whom doctor has recommended to consume
gluten-free food (Šálková and Hes 2016). Not only CeD and NCGS predisposed
patients, celebrities and people who are conscious about physical fitness are inclined
towards the consumption of gluten-free diet. This is because, gluten-free diet is found to
promote weight-loss and is healthy of the body. Having gluten-free diet also helps to
reduce the chances of developing type 1 diabetes (T1DM). T1DM is a type of insulin
dependent diabetes mellitus. It occurs when the pancreas stop producing insulin for the
uptake of glucose from the blood (Jones 2017). However, increase in the popularity of
the gluten-free diet among the population is associated with certain negative
consequences among restaurant owner as well. With the popularity of the gluten-free
diet, the sales of the popular items like pasta and wheat breads are experiencing fast
decline and casting an impact on the overall turnover of the hospitality industry.
Dwivediet al. (2017) stated that intensive industrial agriculture is not sustainable and
might fail to contribute towards developing healthy human diet. Decreased consumption
of livestock products and increased consumption of plant products are central towards
decreasing food carbon footprints and healthy eating. Fundamental for good health deals
with understanding of gene-nutrient interactions in growth and simultaneous
development and prevention of disease. A paradigm shift is occurring from the current
productivity goals towards developing nutritionally enhanced and cultivation of
resource yet use-efficient crops. There are growing stream of evidences that not only
healthy diets are suitable. The evidences also suggest that not all sustainable diets are
healthy. Thus integral system approach will be important to generate safe, adequate and
nutritionally rich food.
2. Explain the rationale for this study (refer to relevant research
literature in your response).
There are significant source of evidences showing the importance of gluten-free
diet and popularity of the gluten-free diet among CeD, NCGS population and
celebrities. However, none of the research has been conducted in order to extract the
lived-experience of the restaurant owners about running their restaurants with gluten-
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