Whole grapes are a choking hazard - right?!

[Cutthegrapes]

So, why do I find myself unwittingly engaged in a battle with one of the UK's largest pub and restaurant chains to get them to cut the grapes in a children's fruit salad? AIBU to think that it wouldn't be easier cut the grapes than perform the Heimlich on a preschooler in a restaurant?

If you're already thinking, 'Wait, this guy has literally just joined mumsnet to have a moan', then you're not far off. I've joined Mumsnet because I'm a concerned father and I'm not being taken seriously by Whitbread. I was just a concerned father when I raised this issue with Whitbread, following a meal in a Table Table restaurant. When they fobbed me off until their 'next menu review', but thanked me for raising a 'presentation' issue, I became an angry and concerned father. After my email to the CEO and Senior Management of Premier Inns and Restaurants went unanswered, I became a determined father. It's genuinely a life and death issue and it cannot be ignored because it's too much hassle to take a few extra seconds when preparing food for children.

RoSPA and the Child Accident Prevention Trust and may other charities have run campaigns encouraging parents to cut grapes before feeding them to children. Children have nearly died and children have actually died as a result of getting grapes lodged in their windpipes - just do a quick Google and it's not hard to see what can happen if you don't cut the grapes!

I know it sounds trivial, I know I probably sound histrionic, but frankly, it's a bigger issue than that and I cannot think of a reason why any food outlet could defend a decision to not cut the grapes in dishes specifically designed for children. Accidents do not wait for 'menu reviews'. AIBU to think that a responsible organisation might have jumped on the opportunity to do the right thing, simply ask their pubs and restaurants to cut the grapes and take advantage of the good publicity? I'm sure they're careful with nuts in their meals, so why be so irresponsible with grapes?

If you'd like to read my original post and copy of the letter to Whitbread's CEO, you can find them in the visitor posts on the 'Table Table Pub Restaurants' Facebook page. www.facebook.com/TableTable/posts/1164224453670659

AIBU? I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Alex

Yanbu

Snow isn't the problem with halved grapes only when people cut them across, preserving the circular plane rather than lengthways so there's not a perfect plug shape?
I quartered grapes when mine were little because I'm a bag of anxiety

Don't be ridiculous User

Absolutely agree with OP. A parent cutting up a child's food is for convenience; cutting up a grape served to a child is a very necessary health and safety issue. As a pp pointed out, the shape of a grape is key.
Am very surprised at Whitbreads' taking that attitude.

I wonder why people are so incensed about grapes but never discuss the dangers of bananas , a chunk of banana stuck in a toddlers throat is just as dangerous as a grape IMO. But I quite often see children in forward facing buggies chowing down on a whole banana.

Personally I think in this instance it is the parents responsibility to cut grapes in a restaurant for a child who they think needs it, just as you would cut the meat, make sure the chicken was boneless, check the fish for bones and check the temperature of the soup or the custard.

OMG I have never cut up grapes. DS is nearly 5. I think if they were cut he would more likely choke as he wouldn't necessarily bite down on it immediately. He loves grapes for the bursting of them in his mouth.

Restaurants should serve children's meals at a reasonable temperature for a child. It is far more dangerous to routinely bring out scorching hot soup and pasta with cheese bubbling away. And they put very hot plates right down in front of the child too!! Argh

Please don't get me wrong. I'm a massive advocate of parental responsibility - I wouldn't let my child play in the road then call for a ban on cars. But it is a shared responsibility. If you serve children's food it needs to be safe.

I agree, I don't expect his sausage and chips to be cut up, but every other item in that salad is chopped. It doesn't come looking like a fruit basket, so why not cut the grapes too? If the grapes are cut up there's no possibility of children, young or old, being exposed to risk. So why as a restaurant would you put yourself on the wrong side of that risk?

It just doesn't make sense to me.

My understanding is that it's the particular size and shape of grapes, and their smooth skin, that causes them to be at risk of getting stuck. I understand that hot dog sausages also pose the same risk.

As most people are aware of the choking hazard, I'm amazed Whitbread serves in their children's' meals at all. Can you quote the Pizza Hut example someone else posted? I'm all for parents raising awareness about these issues - good luck!

You are not being unreasonable. This is a big worry of mine.

Just teach your children to bite the grapes in half and chew them. This is how I was taught to eat grapes and what I teach my children. I feel it's better in the long run because I can't be around cutting up grapes all the time, so if they are presented with whole grapes they know how to eat them as safely as they can. When they were very little I would show them how to squash the grapes before eating.

Look up Jacob Jenkins. Poor kid X

I wouldn't cut grapes for a 4yo tbh. They are old enough to bite them and know why.

I really don't think this is a restaurants responsibility. How far do you take it? They have to chop up all children's portions before serving? Just keep and eye on what your kids are eating.

I agree. If they're being served as part of a children's menu, they should be served cut up.

There was a very sad case in a Pizza Hut local to me about a year ago where a 2 yr old choked on a grape and died because no one could dislodge the grape in time.

Josephine yeah that's Jacob Jenkins. An absolute tragedy

They're good as gold, but if you're actively feeding the little one and you don't know that someone's put a choking hazard in front of the bigger one until he's got in his mouth, it's a bit late.

Exactly. YANBU OP.

Grapes are definitely more dangerous than banana because banana is squashy in a way that grapes aren't. The big choke hazards are grapes, cherry tomatoes and marshmallows. They all squash enough to wedge into a windpipe and get stuck, but not enough to be easily coughed out.

Trouble is, grapes and cherry tomatoes go horrible very quickly once they're cut, as opposed to keeping perfect for up to a week when they are whole. That's the real problem for catering.

Minor point, OP. You don't take your children out at the weekend "so [your] wife can work" but because you're their father. This is the same as how you aren't "babysitting" if you stay at home one evening when she's going out.

Restaurants don't need to cut up other foods, because they don't present a choking risk in the way that grapes do.

The chain are bloody stupid for not taking your comments seriously, op.

I think the likely outcome from this is not that they cut the grapes, but that they remove the grapes from the fruit salad.

This might be totally fine with you, but there will be a lot of parents and children who would rather have whole grapes, which they can choose to cut, vs no grapes.

Yes, that's true. The point was simply that I'm by myself at their mealtimes.

YANBU- the beautiful daughter of some old friends of mine died choking on a grape a couple of years ago. I never realised before this what a risk they can present to young children- and I think that's true of many parents. Whitbread needs to behave much more responsibly.

Yanbu at all.

It's just such a simple thing for the restaurants to do, given that they have to chop the rest of the fruit anyway.

They don't dump a whole pineapple/water melon/orange/apple/banana on the plate, so what's wrong with chopping the grapes too while they're at it?

I cut up grapes for my five year old, the same as I do for the two year old, but I have also taught him to bite into whole grapes if he is given them, and he has been known to slice them himself, and stop his toddler sister grabbing whole ones. It's not one or the the other; the two things go hand in hand, slicing grapes and also teaching him why.

But at home, it is more relaxing to slice them and not have the added worry. At restaurants I'm vigilant about what they're eating, but it is often chaotic with small children and extended family and it would be one less hazard to have to sort out yourself whilst also watching hot food, drinks, cutlery etc.

Kids can choke on any food, but you don't get a second chance with grapes.

What's next after grapes? Hotdogs, cherry tomatoes, marshmallows, popcorn? People can choke on anything.
Why can't you ask if the fruit salad contains grapes on ordering? Teach your three year old to bite and chew not put whole foods in their mouth.
Ask the waiting staff to place the food in front of you.
You are responsible for your children, not Whitbread.