During 2024 many high-profile stories and cases have highlighted that British food service still has some way to go to achieve common standards in delivering safe places to eat and drink and meet the needs of food hypersensitive customers.
We have seen a few dramatic cases, including incidents at Disney World in America and in other countries around the globe, so we are therefore not alone!
In October 2023, a physician from Plainview, New York, tragically passed away after experiencing a severe allergic reaction at Raglan Road Irish Pub and Restaurant in Disney Springs, Florida. Despite informing the restaurant staff multiple times about her severe dairy and nut allergies, she was repeatedly assured that her meal would be free of these allergens. After dining, she suffered anaphylactic shock and, despite immediate medical intervention, was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
In November 2024, a 14-year-old British girl tragically died after consuming a baklava dessert containing peanuts at a restaurant in Rome. Despite her known peanut allergy, the presence of the allergen was not communicated or identified, leading to a fatal reaction.
Similarly, in September 2024, Melissa Schwartz Nemeth, a New York City resident with a severe sesame allergy, suffered anaphylactic shock after eating a mislabelled tahini chocolate-chip cookie at a local coffee shop. Despite informing the barista of her allergy, she was assured the cookie was safe, highlighting a critical lapse in allergen awareness and communication.
In another case, Alison Pickering, a 23-year-old college student from Texas, died after consuming food from a restaurant that had changed its recipe to include peanuts without proper disclosure. This incident emphasizes the importance of transparent ingredient communication and the potential consequences of recipe modifications.
What has been a common denominator is a lot of organisations entrust their allergen training to some elementary online portals. They certainly cover all the facts and demonstrate company methods, but in practice, these are falling short of empowering catering personnel to be able to manage an allergen query at the counter.
In contrast, the continuous development of allergen aware businesses has shown immense strides. They are not only a meeting the retained EU laws but have evolved their service offer and increased footfall and reputation.
The business goal should be to embrace an allergen culture, much in the same way as health and safety, “it’s everyone’s responsibility “. Instead of food hypersensitive customers being perceived as a burden, they are welcomed, treated well, and will return, and share their enjoyable experience stories!
Public relations and marketing should always be astute, focused, and productive for business. Being bogged down with firefighting allergen issues just drains the energy out of the business and its workers.
So, get the food and allergen safety bedded in and concentrate on your profitability. In this turbulent economy distraction equals disaster.
Julian Edwards, CEO, Allergen Accreditation
