Pret Allergy Food Labelling Coroner Verdict

[cheeseycharlie]

So the verdict is out: Pret's food labelling for allergies in Pret was inadequate, and a family lost their DD as a result.
This story makes me so angry. Pret are a huge food chain, owned by McDonalds, there is no excuse for them to have anything less than industry-leading standards in food labelling.
Our DS carries epipen for life-threatening peanut allergy. One of the hardest things is how other people don't take it seriously at all, and are willing to take risks around him. To find that a huge corporate food chain is so blase is gutting.

Shame on you Pret.

Has anyone been into a Pret recently? The incident occurred 2 years ago, I'm curious whether they had sorted out their food labelling in that time, or is it only now a coroner has concluded that they caused the death of an innocent girl on her way to a holiday that they will take steps to sort this out.

Please please support my food labelling petition on 38 Degrees. I’ve placed a post on this site in the hope that allergy sufferers and parents will help me get food leglislation ( in the words of this girls father), fit for purpose. Let’s really make her death a ‘watershed’ so others do not have to continue to play roulette with their lives. Please help by circulating the petition to as many as possible. We mums really can change the law on this one. Thank you.

My heart breaks for them. Such a needless waste.

I was in pret last December when I was dairy and soy free. The staff were helpful and extremely knowledgable. I only asked about dairy but when I grabbed a wee bar of dark chocolate they double checked with me whether I was ok with soy lecithin. It appeared like they had some pretty extensive training.

Hang on, I thought the inquest was ongoing?

As someone who relies on good allergy labelling this terrifies me but also doesn’t surprise me
Way too many places don’t understand the gravity of getting it wrong or cross contamination or labels simply being moved by someone else
The poor family
And shame on cabin crew for pace of response too

Without wishing to derail the thread, McDonalds haven’t had a stake in Pret for 10 years

I was in Pret last week and the big white labels on each shelf with allergy advice seemed more prominent and detailed than before.

Labels on fridge doors can easily be missed. I think they are exploiting a loophole intended for sandwich shops that make sandwiches to order in front of customers. If they are making sandwiches to a preset menu there's no reason why proper labels couldn't be pre printed and supplied with the sandwich making instructions.

Wasn't the issue with this case that the sesame seeds were baked into the bread - the one thing prepared off site. It's that that they're using as their loophole and so perhaps their bakery suppliers need to be taught allergen advice too?

A lot of people say the onus is on the allergy sufferers to check for allergens - and I agree - however this poor girl was rigorous with her checks and still died. Something as serious as this type of allergy then every component of the meal needs to be allergen checked or at the very least have it's ingredients freely available online or in-store to read up on.

Sesame was baked into the dough, yes - I've eaten that same sandwich & you wouldn't know from sight that it was in there - it's not like a burger bun with the seeds on top

Really negligent of Pret

Pret seem to have improved their labelling a little - although individual products don’t even say what they are on the packaging, nutritional values are displayed with ingredients on signs on the cabinets.

Does that include a breakdown of the bread and mayo and dressings etc? Because the lack of that level of detail is what's led to this

I haven’t been in since the case began, but I will pay more attention next time im in.

It’s horrendous that it’s taken this for things to change, but I really hope they do. That poor girl and her poor family.

Please do not spread false information - McDonalds does not own Pret.

McDonalds take allergies very, very seriously. They have an up to date (for every single promotion) allergen book under the till. Crew are trained to get a manager upon an allergen query and managers are trained to show the book to the customer so they can make their own informed decision.

It is very important for allergen sufferers to know McDonalds is a restaurant that takes allergens extremely seriously and allergen information is readily available.

The one person I know who has a DS with a similar allergy has never allowed him to eat food prepared by anyone but herself. I got the impression she felt even her DH wasn't scrupulous enough. One or other parent always attended and stated on at parties with the DS and he came with a little box of food prepared by her from home.

Pret now display very clearly what’s in everything including allergens. The actual packs still aren’t marked though.

I haven't followed every word of this but I assume that Pret have known they could have improved their labelling since pretty soon after the incident, why didn't they overnight make the necessary improvements.

There's no rocket science involved in sending big signs to all the branches to highlight the risks. I understand that they complied with the law and aren't legally at fault but what normal board of directors wouldn't have sorted this out immediately to avoid it happening again?