Mayo in 'no mayo' sandwich - anaphylaxis

[kavvAbanana]

I'm in utter shock.

DH is severely allergic to egg (amongst other things). He won't eat in restaurants and is very careful about what he eats, but has been happy to eat pre packed sandwiches from supermarkets etc as they have all ingredients listed.

Today he bought a pre packed baguette from a well known high street bakery. It was sealed and labelled 'no mayo'. Two thirds of the way in he bit into a huge blob of mayonnaise. He freaked out, spat it out and rinsed his mouth thoroughly which is what saved him. His lips and tongue swelled up and the ambulance and a and e staff said it was only his presence of mind that limited the exposure and therefore the severity of the attack.

Wtf? I mean what the actual fuck. He could have died. He could have choked to fucking death on his own swollen tongue or suffocated by a swelling windpipe if he had swallowed it. I feel sick at how close we came to my babies not having a father just because some utter dick didn't realise the implication of cross contamination.

I am beyond furious and can't see straight.

Their head office are investigating. I'm hoping they will tighten up their procedures. There seems to be a belief that factory production lines are more tightly policed than the deli type set ups so perhaps a bit more cross checking and training is needed.

I'm reserving judgement until they come back to me. Then I will decide how to proceed. Not thinking Daily Mail sad face or anything like that, but I do think that we will have to make a fuss if they are just going to fob us off and change nothing. This cannot happen to anyone else, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

Could I ask where it's from?

High street bakery chain. Ironically rhymes with 'eggs'.

Unfortunately they work on 1 bench for all sandwiches and all ingredients are kept in the same fridges, there's massive risk of cross contamination, but I completely agree no mayo sticker should not have been on.

In fact they shouldn't stock no mayo stickers anymore, haven't seen them for a good while. I only know of ham and cheese baguette to have no mayo but I would be careful incase the other ingredients have egg, especially the bread!!!

Surely the no mayo sticker is for picky people who don't like mayo, not for people with a potentially fatal allergy?

Depends how you look at it I suppose insancerre. One man's 'picky person' is another man's 'vegetarian who doesn't want meat in their sandwich', or 'coeliac who doesn't want the odd crouton on their salad'. It should be as described.

Whether or not someone with severe allergies should take them at their word is another question. DH certainly won't.

This had 'no mayo' labels on the shelf Tired and they are still in there, I checked today. Just to add, this wasn't a simple case of a tiny bit of contamination due to something like using the same knife - it was a huge great dollop of mayonnaise and only on a third of the baguette. So much that I'd have thought it overkill if I'd actually wanted mayonnaise - someone had to know it was there.

Yes your right they do have stickers on the actual shelves so this is a case of someone not paying attention to what they are making. But as I said just watch out because I'm sure the bread has eggs in, my LO has a very severe egg allergy and can't have anything from there. As I say, there isn't any allergy training in these shops and Also sandwich training is very rare. i wouldn't recommend anywhere with cross contamination for any allergy sufferer

Fair enough you are right, lesson learned here I think. if he had realised they were made on site he might not have chosen to eat from there, I think he understood it to be like Sainsbury sandwiches made and sealed and shipped in

The bread containing egg is a new one though, their allergen ingredients booklet thing hasn't got egg ticked on their bread, rolls or baguettes so that's what I was going on.

Even if it isn't ticked it's all made in the same factory with eggs, milk, Etc I would just be really really cautious! I do hope he's ok? I just know this bakery is very small and probably not up to date with allergies like other places!

I have a very severe nut allergy. I eat out a lot but do choose restaurants carefully. I accept the risk I am taking and for me it is worth it to be able to eat out with friends.

We are at the mercy of whoever is preparing our food. Mistakes happen. I always let a restaurant know if there has been a problem so that they can improve working methods, staff knowledge etc. but I try not to get hysterical about it. Everyone makes mistakes in their jobs. Unfortunately staff in the food industry are quite poorly paid given that allergies mean the stakes are high when things go wrong.

My allergy is my responsibility, in my view. I've actually said to my parents that if I pop my clogs after eating food someone else has prepared that I don't want any one person to feel responsible. I hate the idea of someone being haunted by a mistake that kills me due to me deciding to take the risk to eat out.

The bakery the OP is talking about pay above minimum wage, they are a very good company to work for but allergies are not a thing I've ever come across at any time except a book they have. None of the staff are allergy trained. But allergies are now coming into the spotlight so things will change!

That's what I hope will change, definitely Tired. Just a bit of training can go a long way, I'm sure it has been drummed into people that they have to wash their hands when preparing food and this is just a stage further.

And Newshoes you're right there are a lot of lower wage jobs in the food industry. However a lot of people are getting very rich off the back of these businesses, and they have a responsibility to educate their staff and provide adequate training. It's like allowing a child to wander off out of a nursery and onto a main road, and then saying that the childcare providers were poorly paid and mistakes happen. People would go mad.

There's a minimum standard for everything and I believe that basic food hygiene and preparation training shouldn't be beyond a large chain to deliver.

I think you should report this to the Food Standards Authority. I think you have to do this via the Food Safety officer at your local council. It may end up being passed to the local authority where the chain's head office is.

I would really urge you to do this. Especially since there is external evidence (via the ambulance records). They will take it very seriously, and it will cause an investigation of the chain's processes.

With all food and retail, it is the processes that matter. With proper processes, despite minimum wage jobs and high staff turnover, there can still be safe food. Otherwise we'd all be suffering from salmonella etc. from all the chain food stores.

Every time something like this is reported, and a chain is forced to review their procedures (and potentially is fined if they have not been behaving correctly) then it jolts through the industry and makes others be more careful.

It is really worth doing.