AIBU to think peanuts should not be eaten on the Tube?

[SuperGinger]

I was on the Tube yesterday and the man next to me had an open packet of peanuts which he was eating. It's such a common allergy and I know quite a few people, including my own brother, who would have had a serious reaction if they had been on that Tube.

Should I have said to him he shouldn't eat peanuts on thevTube even though I would not be impacted because I was worried about other potential sufferers in the carriage, as it's a very confined space and it was rush hour.

AIBU - It's a free world
YANBU - peanuts are a very common allergen and people should not eat them in confined public spaces.

Is he an arsehole though, or maybe just a bit thoughtless? If nuts were banned and he was still eating them then that might make him an arsehole, but perhaps he just didn’t think? Do you think “oh better not eat this in case someone is allergic” every time you eat any foodstuff in public? Why are people so keen to think the worst of others with no proof?

This thinking is part of the reason why nut bans are now not considered best practice.

Nut allergies are not more serious than other allergies. Any allergen can cause anaphalyxis with the same consequences for that person. The treatment is the same. They all need to be treated with the same respect.

I am fully informed on my child’s allergy! I know exactly what affects them. They do not have life threatening reactions and do not need an EpiPen.

If you had read my post you would see that I saw the information on a poster at the allergy clinic and found it interesting as it was something I wasn’t aware of - that milk is on a par with peanuts in terms of anaphylaxis risk. Other posters have commented the same fact.

The guy I worked with couldn't be in the same room and he led a restricted life.

With an allergy so severe, he should claim PIP and use the money for taxis. You can't expect someone who is diabetic not to whip their Snickers out of their bag on the tube to avert a hypo.

Well you could because a snickers would be an awful choice for a hypo …

I agree because some person with allergy could be very ill or even die. People can be very selfish and thoughtless.

I think people should never ever eat nuts or milk based food in public.

But the police can’t even stop all the sexual assaults and theft on the tube. They really aren’t going to be checking the ingredients of what someone is eating. As people have said there are so many allergies that can seriously harm someone that are also airborne that you can’t just give priority to nuts because that one affects you.

I'm not an expert in diabetes, so I'm not ruling out peanuts as an anti-hypo food source.

I get migraines and have to eat gluten-free. The nut bars Lidl sell that are basically nuts held together with sugar are useful "shit, I've got the aura and I need sugary food now" food. If I've run out, I'll buy a Snickers because they reliably don't contain gluten-bearing ingredients.

In fairness to that poster, the wasps last summer were mental. They were bloody everywhere. Couldn’t eat anything outside with them coming to you, even at the beach in September. They also took an opportunity to come inside via any open window. I definitely noticed wasps more than nuts.

A lot of people just don't have awareness, OP. The person you are talking about probably didn't even think about allergies. I doubt it was on his radar at all.

Unfortunately you can never expect there to be this level of public health education, and even once 100% of people have the knowledge (which will never happen), you would then need 100% cooperation with it to make it safe.

Covid showed us that this sort of thing is just not realistic.

People with severe allergies will be taking the precautions they need to take.

There is no point getting upset and offended by this.

We had a young woman eating mcdonalds fries outside her handbag on the tube. It was fascinating they never ended 🤣🤣

Well, I'm glad you're not in charge of public policy, then. (... you aren't, are you??)

We need correctly labelled foods and no laxity in restaurants. We need people with severe allergies to be correctly informed and always have an epipen if that's what they use. We don't need draconian restrictions on potential allergens - because as many others have pointed out, nut allergies are merely one of the better known and most notorious. Some people are strongly allergic to milk, or prawns, or strawberries. Are you in support of blanket-banning those, too? Or even 'just' banning them in enclosed spaces? You would also have to support extremely strict rules on banning all potential allergens in snack bars which many people carry with them. Most manufacturers would struggle to comply.

None of this is realistic.

This.

I'm allergic to dogs, being in the vicinity of one makes me feel very unwell and can trigger a severe asthma attack. I would like to never encounter a dog on public transport, cafés, restaurants and other public places but the reality is, that's not going to happen. I just have to safeguard myself and move away or leave.

Do you genuinely think this? We live in central London and DH’s quickest commute to/from work is 1h20 (2 different tube lines). That’s just how it is and no we can’t move closer to his work. He does sometimes eat breakfast on the tube (croissant and coffee usually) and it would never occur to us that this was hazardous behaviour. I agree with other posters that it isn’t realistic to avoid all possible allergens when out in public.

What ? why on earth not??

OP you are being very unreasonable.

Of course you are. The only thing you can’t consume is alcoholic beverages!

Most people have enough of their own problems to think about before they'll think about other people's problems. I don't deal with allergies day to day so I don't give a whole lot of thought about what ingredients are in what food. You have to be realistic with "the public".

Sorry - but the original concept is just not realistic...
You can not expect everyone in the world where-ever you are to act in a way which protects an unknown allergy some stranger near them might have...

As posted above - the advice now is not on banning peanuts / nuts etc.in school and other environments, but on teaching the individual with the allergy how to survive in the environment where they don't know what might happen - a far more useful approach.

the simple idea that someone with an issue (unfortunate / not their fault / life-threatening / etc. but still an issue for them) should have it dealt with by expecting the entire rest of the world attempt to remove that issue just so that they don't have to take responsibility for their own issue is absurd - a) it can never actually happen - and then who is blamed for the consequences? and b) it just smacks of the current society approach where it is always someone else's fault and folks don't have to take responsibility for themselves... which is directly leading to the collapse of society...

yes it is horrific (I have friends and family with serious allergies), yes it makes life difficult for those people - but the answer is not to put responsibility for avoidance onto everyone else - they need to carry the appropriate pen, and if it really is high risk then they might not be able to use the tube - other methods of getting around are available!

Utterly ridiculous idea.

There are multiple allergens in the world. You cannot avoid them all.

Milk allergy as noted upthread kills more children than peanuts but no-one is suggesting dairy free schools.

Nonsense. Of course you are and always have been.

I rarely eat on the tube though. Not that I object to people eating there, but I just feel that for me personally there are much more pleasant places to sit and eat.

With regard to peanuts, the man did nothing wrong. I don't think a ban could be effectively policed on the tube. I wouldn't want one set and wouldn't bother saying anything.

When's the last time someone died due to a peanut allergy on the tube? Google says no one ever has.

I think people with peanut allergies are smart enough to rely on their own resources (epipens etc) and not on random people.

you don't know how long their total journey would be though or where they have been or what they have eaten before entering the train.

I vaguely remember, maybe in the 90's?, an advertising campaign by the Tube requesting people not to eat really smelly food - the examples given were hamburgers and the like. Obviously nobody complied. It wasn't anything to do with allergens obviously, it was a matter of public etiquette. Which makes me think, in 2026, how sweetly quaint! The idea that the public could be requested to temporarily curtail their chosen activities because it might constitute a public irritation.

Having said that, I honestly WOULD think twice before choosing an egg mayo sandwich or something else very smelly, if I knew I was going to eat it somewhere public and confined. But I'd eat something else (sorry coeliacs).