...to expect the restaurant to give me the ingredients of a cake that caused dd to have anaphylaxis

[Timetochange70]

She ate the cake which was called Boston mud cake.
within seconds lips looked like bubble wrap and Tongue swelled up followed by face.
luckily we knew what to do as she did this once before after a peanut but was recently challenged and peanut was confirmed as a bad allergy but no longer life threatening as before.
anyway within minutes her throat swelled and she couldn't breathe .... Ambulance adrenaline ect scary but she was ok.
I asked them at the scene to give me the box to take to hospital
and they mumbled something about the supplier coming on Wed ! Hadn't time to argue.
returned several times after said delivery on Weds but still no ingredients available.
managed to persuade them to give us the box but no ingredients labelled anywhere, however DH e mailed the company in Australia ... No reply 3 weeks later.
have been into shop several time each time being very nice .now tonight I had enough because I have the day off work tomorrow to see the consultant and dd will be missing school to be tested for ????? It's like omg they have had nearly a month to give us the ingredients .
Tonight I firmly and politely said they had surely a legal obligation to provide us with ingredients . they gave us the mobile tel no. Of the supplier who says he needs to speak to supplier in Australia . I said I shouldn't be phoning these people YOU should .
I said it was not unreasonable to ask for the ingredients and they shouldn't be selling food if they can't say what's in it FGS! My dd could have died. Just to really P##s me off the manager tried to add my dd as a friend on facebook this week and I can't imagine how he even knows her name!
DD is 15 btw.does anyone know if I have any rights because I'm cross but also sad because we ate there a lot and they are really nice people apart from this x

[worraliberty]

Gosh I don't know?

I wonder if Trading Standards might be able to help?

[Bogeyface]

A month? I would have been going mental after 2 days!

I am not sure of the legal position but I do know that when I worked at my friends pub and restaurant, they had a file with the ingredients labels of any bought in items in it that were dated incase they were ever needed. The chef was very hot on making sure everything went into it. I never questioned it at the time but that does suggest to me that there is a legal something or other about it.

I would ring Trading Standards, they were really helpful for me a couple of weeks ago and can get Enviromental Health involved if needs be, as they did for me.

[tamitots]

They have the same obligations as a supermarket to know or display what is in their products. You should not have had this amount of trouble - def contact trading standards.

[Bogeyface]

Just asked H who works somewhere that serves food. He says he doesnt actually know why, but they also have a file with ingredients lists and have a list of products on the wall in the kitchen that contain eggs, nuts, peanuts etc. Again, it suggests a legal obligation.

[differentnameforthis]

Do you know who makes the cake?

Are you in the UK? Are they seriously asking you to believe that cakes get shipped from Australia to the UK?

I am in Oz & if you know who makes the cake, I will gladly fire off an email/call them for you!

[differentnameforthis]

Recipes I have looked at on google suggest coconut, pecans, etc. The following list contains all the ingredients included in most of the recipes I have looked at

white sugar
butter, softened
flaked coconut
eggs
unsweetened cocoa powder
chopped pecans
all-purpose flour
baking powder
vanilla extract
marshmallow creme
confectioners' sugar
evaporated milk

[SouthernFriedTofu]

Glad he added dd on her fb face. You can use that to spam his wall.

MY daughter could have died in your shop due to anaphlactic shock. Why won't you tell me what's in the cake ingredients? What exactly is it you need to hide?

Also try calling your local TV news to investigate

[StealthPolarBear]

Why on eaerth did the manager add your DD as a friend on FB?

[savoycabbage]

So, they gave you a phone number of a supplier and then you rang that and he sais that he got it from another supplier in Australia? Is that what happened?

That sounds like a big fat lie. Who would be getting a cake from 12 thousand miles away! He must be trying to put you off surely. Or he is running the worst business ever.

Tell him you have loads of friends in Australia who are more than happy to contact the supplier for you.

[Grumpla]

He added your dd to spy on your family because he knows he fucked up and he's shitting it. Probably hoping to extract info from her to defend himself or to send her a message pleading for clemency.

Seriously, a MONTH?!? I would be rolling up my sleeves and setting out to ruin his fucking life. Placards outside shop, local press, trading standards, environmental health, Facebook group, the lot. You've been more than reasonable so far, I think its time to move to Plan B.

[sparkle12mar08]

Go in every lunch time and stand right in the middle of the place and say loudly: "My daughter nearly died here, give me the ingredients list now please" I imagine he will give it to you immediately when he realises you will close his business!

[MadameDefarge]

The rules are very odd. If he sold it to you wrapped up already, he would be obliged to list the ingredients. If he sells it loose then he isn't.

[SenoritaViva]

Would the CAB be able to help (if you are in the UK)? Also agree about trading standards.

I think the FB friend thing is frankly really weird, why would an adult from a restaurant that you frequent want to be your DD's friend? (Aside from the issues you have had). I would be reporting him to the FB people as it just doesn't sit right with me.

[weblette]

Get on to Trading Standards NOW.

This link has some law that might help

[msnovember]

You definitely need to take this higher. I think it would be an Environmental Health issue but you may as well contact Trading Standards also. Don't tell the manager you're going to do it, just do it.

The Facebook thing is bizarre.

[Elderberries]

Sounds odd to me. I would be making their life miserable.

[meravigliosa]

A solicitor's letter to him?

[IsSamNormansDad]

This is shocking. & for you and DD. I worked for a well known pub/restaurant chain and we kept a huge file of the ingredients of EVERY single dish (about 60-70 in all).
You need to be hassling these people, phone calls, emails, visiting (making a huge fuss) and if it is part of a chain, or owned by a bigger company, email and call them too.
Get advice from Trading Standards and CAB. Se if your GP will send an official letter to them. Do you have any legally minded friends? Get them to to a letter too - the legal thing will put the shits up them.
Most eateries need licences from councils to serve food - maybe try contacting the council (I know its nigh on impossible).
You should NOT have to do any of this, but it sounds like a total knob of a manager - all places which serve food are (I believe) required to have ingredient lists available PRECISELY for this reason! They do not need to list in on the menu, but must make the info available if requested.
HTH and good luck.

[weblette]

Right, have found the FSA guidance. It's not legally-binding alas as the food would be classed as non-pre-packed and is a voluntary code. Section 4 onwards has the stuff about ingredients...

From the way they're behaving thought it does sound as if there's something odd going on.

[kelly2000]

Contact trading standards. I would also complain to the head office and trading standards and facebook about the facebook invite - the manager of a restuarant trying to befriend a child whose parents are making a complaint is just weird. I wonder if he wanted to check up to see if she really had an attack, or get ammo in case you tried to sue or something.

[eragon]

ok. you do have a problem, as even if you did get the ingredients listed, you have no way of ensuring that the allergens listed were what your child ate.

cross contamination from a shared knife cutting the cake is an issue.what other cakes etc do they serve?

However, as most allergies dont come in ones, and often tree nuts, and egg allergies are the most common linking ones with peanut.

I must admit I am curious as to a food challenge establishing that peanut is non life threatening but still a bad allergy? That doesnt make any sense to me, unless your child is on the adam fox desentization treatment.
peanut is a very unpredictable allergy, and you can have many mild reactions and out of the blue have anaphylaxis.
so you have many, many questions to ask your immunologist.

good luck, and keep on carrying the epi pens!

[SamWidgiz]

They should have been able to tell you then and there what the ingredients were, never mind a day/week/month later.

They may well be lovely most of the time, but they fucked up royally this time and a life could have been lost because of it.

People have allergic reactions all the time and that's not their fault. But they could be holding up medical investigations which could help avoid this situation in the future.

And as for Facebook, agree he's bricking it and trying to monitor what your daughter might be saying about him/his business.

All the more reason for you to get in there first before he tries to pick up on something your DD says on FB and accuses her/you of slandering his establishment.