Ice cream cafe has given my daughter a dairy free ice cream.. with dairy in it. Livid!

[Cleothelabrador]

Hello
I don't think I'm being unreasonable, just posting here for traffic.
My daughter is 5, has a dairy allergy and reacts badly when she has even very small amount.
We've just been for ice cream where I did the usual cone/ice cream ingredients check & repeated about 3 times that she can't have dairy. As I always do. Especially as this happened at a different cafe before.
I used to ask for ingredients but it all felt a bit neurotic & I stopped. I'll start again now.
They put some sprinkles on the top which I didn't see & my daughter told me about after severe sore throat, tummy ache, sore skin & swollen eye... I asked for the ingredients of the ice cream and they told me & stated no dairy so it was almost def the sprinkles. We left and then ran into the manager later on & I told him what had happened & he agreed the sprinkles have dairy in.
We swapped phone numbers.
Last time I reported to trading standards and never went there again.
This time I know I should do the same but it doesn't seem enough.
My daughter is now asleep.
Her whole day has been ruined and that's so unfair. Also potentially tomorrow, a day she has been looking forward for weeks, & have pre-paid for an expensive day out & taken the day off work. WWYD?
For so many, dairy can be fatal.
Why do so many places get away with this?

yanbu
report
hope your dd is well enough tomorrow for the activity! (if not consider small claims court due to the cafe's error?)

Oh OP, how awful, I’m so sorry.

This happened to a friend of mine recently. Her toddler DS a has lots of allergies and so they are scrupulous about checking ingredients. They ordered a smoothie, checked that the ingredients in it were all that were in it, they’d been to the cafe and had that smoothie before. One sip and the toddler had a bad reaction and needed epipen plus a&e. On investigation it turned out the chef/barista/whomever had put a dollop of peanut butter in it. No idea why. Could easily have been tragic.

People who work in food service can be terribly blasé about allergies. Most are great - my mum is coeliac and so we are pretty scrupulous when out with her - but the minority terrify me.

That's so maddening. I don't have any food allergies but I have friends who do. I have seen how ignorant places are about the contents of their food. Even when my friends have asked specifically, places selling food have got it wrong. It shouldn't be difficult to know what the ingredients are in the food you are selling.

Thanks all
Yeah it's infuriating!
There is one ice cream shop where we live that's half dairy free & there have NEVER been issues there. We've been going there for years. They are so careful and we will always go there from now on.

Sounds like a genuine error on behalf of the server. The manager sounds sympathetic and hopefully better labelling will be the outcome.

What do you see as being a successful outcome from this?

I’d guess as Ice cream shop is a no no for someone with a severe dairy allergy.

Not really as you can get some good vegan ranges now that are 100% dairy free, as well as sorbets.

Was she, or you, asked if she wanted sprinkles?

I'm aware that you asked for diary free ice cream and that should have made it clear; but legally, if they asked they may be covered.

It wouldn't occur to me that sprinkles (do you mean the hundreds and thousands sort?) would have dairy in them, so I can see why the server made the error. Make a complaint, with the crux of it being that you want more thorough training for staff about allergies and ingredients lists for all saleable products to be on display or available.

I asked for sprinkles stating the multicoloured ones she's had before
They handed over the ice cream and I passed it straight to my daughter and she ate the sprinkles off it immediately so I didn't see them.
Can't believe such tiny things can cause such a reaction! (Assuming they are telling the truth about the ice cream not containing milk) ......

Sounds like a genuine error on behalf of the server

What if the allergic reaction had been fatal? Some are.
It's not good enough, when someone asks for dairy-free, that's what should be served.
No cross-contamination with utensils, no additives unless the server is positive they are also dairy-free.

It's no wonder people with severe allergies are not confident to eat out.

The onus is on the person with the allergy to be confident in what they are eating (or the parent!) I have allergies, My kids have allergies. I've learned to check every package going before consuming something innocuous (who would have thought a pineapple and coconut drink would have cows milk in it without checking the packaging for instance)

OP I would go back to how you were with the checking. Eateries do what they can to make you aware what may or may not have allergens in it but take this as a lesson to not always take their word for it.

Very bad, complain, people really need to learn or stop working in hospitality.

such a shame
it is for this reason my severally allergic son just doesn't risk eating in some places
tbh I am surprised there wasn't a high risk of cross contamination that would have put you off buying from there

I hope she feels better soon, but more than likely cross contamination not the sprinkles.

I agree that it isn’t sprinkles but most likely an idiot server who used the dairy spoon for dairy free.

This happened to my daughter too. Her lips ballooned right up and she vomited within seconds - the pic is post piriton so we were over the worst by that point.

We put it down to cross contamination but in our case we never really got to the bottom of - she was eating a calipo style squeeze lolly so not sure what went wrong.

So scary though, hope she's ok now.

You should complain. In my student days I worked in a cafe and despite having different tongs and serving areas for e.g meat; dairy; veg etc staff used to cross-contaminate as if it were just the most normal thing. By and large I don't think many gave a stuff about it - unfortunately the only time people seem to take notice is when something catastrophic happens. I'd just steer clear if I were you.

I would complain in writing, and ask the manager to ensure he trains ALL his staff to know to scoop the dairy freee with a scoop ONLY used for dairy free (I suspect this as much as the sprinkle) and to only use it for the dairy free, and to know which sprinkles/syrup has dairy.

Shouldn't be difficult for them to do.

she was eating a calipo style squeeze lolly so not sure what went wrong

I've seen places where there's clearly been a storage issue and an ice cream has melted onto the packaging of things around it.

I'd agree with other posters that cross contamination is much more likely to be the culprit over hundreds and thousands although it's a good prompt to research a bit as dairy can be a hidden component in such a lot of things.

Some Calippo ice lollies contain traces of nuts. i found out when, l read the ingredients on the packet. Luckily l hadn't given to my DD, who is dairy-free.

On investigation it turned out the chef/barista/whomever had put a dollop of peanut butter in it. No idea why.

Fucking hell Jassy

I am coeliac and have lost count of how many times I’ve been brought a roll with my soup etc, after asking if the soup is gluten free. It is so stressful. I have a friend who collapsed and was blue-lighted to hospital after eating in a top restaurant and telling them her allergy.
So I say do report, food places need to take allergies more seriously. They could kill someone by being blasé.

Have you posted this before op?
I remember an almost identical post a few years ago.

I think part of the problem is that many people don’t understand the difference between intolerance and allergic.
Also some people guff on about having an allergy when what they actually mean is that they just don’t like it.