Do restaurants need to display allergens?

[wintermonster]

I ate out in a London restaurant a little while ago.

Ordered a starter of pate and had an allergic reaction.

I'm alleging to nuts.

Had no idea the pate contained nuts and have never known that pate can contain nuts.

My dp asked the manager for help and he offered to all an ambulance me

Luckily I had some antihistamines and that was enough to help and I didn't go into anaphylaxis so just paid and left.

Do restaurants need to list when things contain nuts?
I keep an eye out for the signs and would avoid things at all costs when they do.

I think Indian restaurants are the same as they often add ground almonds to things without putting it in the description of dishes

I'm certainly not an expert, but I don't think they do no. I think they just have to have a list of allergens available on request.

No they don’t need to display it unfortunately but should be able to tell you if you ask. We’ve had problems recently with a place that we had no choice but to eat at, where it said if you have allergies please ask a member of staff and when you did they didn’t know. It was a healthcare place!

Had you asked for the allergy menu?

I didn't ask for the allergen menu and I think it's taught me a lesson to make sure I do in unfamiliar places now.

I guess I have become quite blasé about it having not had a reaction for about 15 years and thinking I know what to avoid when out.

I will certainly be more careful in future

watch out even in familiar places as they change suppliers and recipes.

The chef should always know what ingredients are in every dish whether bought in or home made. I’m a chef and that’s one of the most important parts of our job,

I have allergies and I check all of my dishes with the waiter and then ask him/her to go and check with the chef that the dishes I've ordered are suitable for me and that there will be no cross contamination from other dishes.

I ask the waiter to report back to me when they've checked.

Despite this, in a restaurant recently, I received a dairy free, gluten free sorbet with a milk chocolate wafer sticking out of it.

When I asked the waiter to change it for another, all that happened was the wafer was removed. When the 'new' sorbet arrived you could even see the hole in the sorbet where the wafer had been pulled out from!

Eating out with allergies is not easy.

The restaurant / cafe has to keep details of all dishes that contain allergens

But it’s up to the consumer to say they have an allergy , and check with the staff who will know. Or will check with the chef