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. Keep at it.

YANBU OP, I was still cutting them up for my daughter when she was 7

I'm pretty sure the OP is clever enough/clued up enough on the dangers of uncut grapes, yes (hence his post). And yes, he will no doubt cut up whole grapes before his kids eat them, but the point here is that NOT EVERYONE WILL. So a tragedy such as "3 year old child chokes to death on a grape at Premier Inn restaurant" would be completely avoidable if Whitbread take him seriously and remove grapes from the salads or cut them.

I teach in a school and they are not cut up. It really concerns me.
I see children coming to school with them in lunch boxes whole for snack. I really hate the thought of a child running around out in the playground and choking on a grape. In my little girls nursery, they didn't cut them up. I think people have underestimated the danger too. Awareness needs to be raised.

A former colleague of mine lost his 3 year old through choking on a grape.

Yanbu.

I totally agree with you. Well done for making a fuss about it. If you're ordering off the adult menu then fine, but when you're ordering off the kids menu they should be cut LENGTHWAYS... not in half. They're as much as a hazard cut in half as left whole but if they are cut lengthways the risk is very minimal. Unfortunately not many people realise that and think they are safe just chopping them in half

Here's user back again being a plonker is it beyond your wit? Any need for that?

And yes, he will no doubt cut up whole grapes before his kids eat them, but the point here is that NOT EVERYONE WILL. So a tragedy such as "3 year old child chokes to death on a grape at Premier Inn restaurant" would be completely avoidable if Whitbread take him seriously and remove grapes from the salads or cut them

Oh, so this is one of those "Lets make it someone else fault if people are stupid" things? By that logic, you should be asking supermarkets and greengrocers to chop grapes before selling, because if parents won't cut them in a pub, they won't cut them at home, and a child is more likely to choke on a grape at home.

My question is, at what age should i stop cutting them?? Anyone know?

When YOU think YOUR children are old enough to not choke? You're the parent!

Yes, it's not really my kids that I'm worried about, as I do check. Although I'm not infallible - that's the day it'll scare me.

Thank you for reinforcing my original point though; it's an avoidable situation, so let's avoid it for the sake of everyone, through a really simple action. Parents and restaurants working together to take responsibility.

I'm very pleased to say that I've just received an email from the MD of Whitbread promising to look into this swiftly and apologising for their initial response.

Fingers crossed that they'll make the right move from here.

That's great OP, well done

YANBU grapes are a horrid choking risk, not like other foods, have heard far too many sad stories of children choking on them and dying or almost dying. I didn't know about the cutting lengthwise thing though, good to know.

My question is, at what age should i stop cutting them?? Anyone know?

After around age 5/6 their airways become wider so the key dangerous age is past (if I remember correctly). I stopped cutting them up for DD a couple of months ago (she's nearly 6) but she still has to eat them by biting them first while she's still holding on to the grape. Choking is my biggest fear. If I put them in a salad I cut them still because of eating salad with a spoon so more chance of choking.

My friend's two year old son died from choking on a grape. He loved grapes. She always peeled them and fed them to him rather than letting him feed himself. Somehow he managed to slip one in his mouth without her realising.
When she realised what was happening it was too late. It was lodged in his throat and they didn't know what to do. I think everyone needs to be taught what to do in case of choking as well as being taught that grapes are a choking hazard. We were told about a 19 year old dying a few days before him, also from choking on a grape.

Yanbu. I've only just stopped cutting grapes up and my dc's are 9 & 8.

Even then I hide them so they can't snack on them when not around.

Not at all the same. Supermarkets and greengrocers aren't preparing a KID'S fruit salad, putting it in a bowl, adding a spoon and putting it on the KID'S menu. Yes, parents should check food before their children eat it but it doesn't always happen or happen in time. I'm not also saying that a death would be the restaurant's fault either. Of course the parents' would have to take responsibility. The restaurant could make parents' lives a tad easier and keep children safer, that is all.

A whole sausage would be a choking hazard yet parents manage to cut it up for their child.

user1474627704

Go and change your name if you actually want to be included in a debate.

Supermarkets and greengrocers aren't preparing a KID'S fruit salad, putting it in a bowl, adding a spoon and putting it on the KID'S menu

But they are selling little snack pots of grapes, and little packets of mixed fruit marketed as suitable for school lunch boxes. It's all the same thing...

Either its for the parents to do or its for the provider. You can't have it both ways.

A whole sausage could be pulled out of a mouth fairly easily one would have thought

They need to be lengthwise

Go and change your name if you actually want to be included in a debate

a)I don't believe that's in the site rules
b) I appear to part of this and many debates
and c) bite me.

When YOU think YOUR children are old enough to not choke? You're the parent!

Well never then. You can choke at any age.

Or maybe i should reword it for you.

When is it recommended to stop cutting up grapes for a child?

The issues with whole grapes (and those cut horizontally), as have been explained already on the thread are...
The size of them is perfect to block a child's windpipe (their airways are funnel shaped)
They get wedged which means basic first aid measures are likely to be ineffective
The skin is slippery which means advanced techniques (using instruments to grab them) may well fail.

Most other foods (although cherry tomatoes also a risk as highlighted up thread) do not pose these specific risks, although of course anyone can choke on different things.