to think that Pret are responsible for this young woman's death

[brizzledrizzle]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-45617845

A 15 year old with a sesame allergy died after eating a sandwich from Pret a manger; the company confirmed that 'its products were not individually labelled with allergen or ingredient information.' (missing apostrophe not mine)

I think it's appalling that they don't label products and pretty stupid to bake baguettes with sesame seeds inside if you aren't going to make it very obvious on the packaging that they contain sesame seeds. The government website says that they must be on the packaging because of allergies.

Most food companies will be weeping in relief it wasn’t them frankly

This awful case has been a wake up call for everyone I think

Oh dear god TatianaLarina - you really do hate allergy sufferers don't you? They shouldn't shop in huge supermarket chains like Wholefoods now? Those supermarket chains have no responsibility to mark items that contain tree nuts as ACTUALLY containing tree nuts?

Most food companies will be weeping in relief it wasn’t them frankly. This awful case has been a wake up call for everyone I think

I could not agree more.

Do grow up.

And get some comprehension tutoring.

Do grow up.

Actually, I think I'll focus on continuing to try to ensure major supermarkets to label their food so that people like Joanna (and my daughter) don't die. Sorry that offends you.

It wasn't a mistake. Pret made a deliberate business decision. They weighed up what the chances were of someone dying from an allergic reaction to one of their products versus the cost of putting a full ingredients list on packaging.

They decided that their need to save money (and therefore increase their profit margin) by using the same packaging on all sandwiches which cuts down on storage costs, speeds up production for the sandwich makers and ensures that you don't have to stop production of a particular type of sandwich if you don't have the relevant wrapping was worth the risk that someone would die.

I don't suffer the allergies that this girl and others do so before this I felt safe buying from Pret because I believed they were a reputable company and concerned for their customers. But now I don't.

Now I know that they cut corners and make decisions based on saving themselves money, how do I know that one day their accountants won't make a decision that puts my health and well-being in danger too?

Actually, I think I'll focus on continuing to try to ensure major supermarkets to label their food so that people like Joanna (and my daughter) don't die

The two aren’t mutually exclusive.

I mentioned on the other thread, my DD had anaphylactic type reaction after eating mislabelled food at Wasabi (sushi and noodles chain). Luckily, we've spotted mistake pretty much immediately, she only ate one spoonful and had double dose of antihistamine straightaway. In the past she was admitted with anaphylaxis (to the same allergen) to A&E. I've complained to them and was fobbed off with sorry-not-sorry apology
It's depressing. The law has to change.

My DS had similar reaction to sesame seed (school cookery lesson), collapsed, blood pressure plummeted etc.... Luckily we live close to a hospital and all was fine. Over the years one of our biggest frustrations has been the lack of understanding from family, friends, food establishments and schools. The only people who seem to understand are other allergy sufferers and the medical professionals.

I hate how paranoid you become, checking and rechecking labels. I hate how it impacts your relationship with food. I hate the deep fear you experience when you hear a tragic case like this. I hate that sesame seed traces are in SO many bread products. I hate that I wasn't told not to eat sesame seeds when pregnant and breastfeeding. I hate the look of scepticism on people's faces when you explain the multiple allergies he has. Yes he has lots! I hate now he is an adult I can't constantly remind him to carry his EpiPen. I hate that the medical professionals are still a little mystified about the growth in allergies and why you grow out of some but not others.

it's quite simple, Pret baked a known allergen into a sandwich they knew they didn't have to label.

Everything is a 'known allergen' for someone.

It is't practical to label everything, but maybe the chains could get together and create an app that lists all ingredients, something where you scan the barcode or searchand that you can customise with your own allergies.

An app like Spoon Guru, which does exactly that.
Sainsbury’s has also introduced a Dietary Profile feature for online shopping that allows you to specify your allergies. Once you start shopping it flags all items that may contain your allergen.

*Everything is a 'known allergen' for someone.

No, it really isn't. The point is, in particular, that sesame is an allergen that will cause anaphylactic shock and potentially death in someone who is affected. It's a relatively simple exercise for Pret: on the one hand, they could use pre-printed packaging to show the allergens in their products, or on the other hand they could just decide not to bother and allow someone to die. It's a bit of a no-brainer, isn't it?

As a PP said it's difficult to take your own food on a plane so prople buy at the airport. I think that like many people I wouldn't have realised the difference in labelling between on site food preparation and off site. The family are intelligent and would have taken care in choosing food.

I think it must have been horrendous for the crew as not only were the conditions difficult but they did not have the medical expertise to handle this.

It seems though that Pret and also Greggs are reviewing their labelling practices as a result.

I feel so sorry that this young girl lost her life.

Everything is a 'known allergen' for someone.

No, it really isn't

Yes it is, you can be allergic to sunshine and to water.

on the one hand, they could use pre-printed packaging to show the allergens in their products, or on the other hand they could just decide not to bother and allow someone to die. It's a bit of a no-brainer, isn't it?

Well they have started labeling everything BUT IMHO this is a mistake, foods made on site are going to have some cross contamination.

It's a while since I bought from Pret, are the baguettes still sold in bags open at the end?

sashh a lot of people with allergies will treat food which actually contains their allergen as an ingredient differently to food that ‘may contain traces’. Sometimes because they have to or they’d hardly be able to eat anything. Sometimes because they know a trace isn’t going to be a problem for them. If food is labelled appropriately they can make an educated risk assessment for themselves. If it isn’t labelled they are dicing with death.

Well they have started labeling everything BUT IMHO this is a mistake, foods made on site are going to have some cross contamination.

Very, very easy to include a warning about that in the labelling.

Everything is a 'known allergen' for someone.

No, it really isn't

Yes it is, you can be allergic to sunshine and to water.

There are 14 allergens protected by food safety law. (allergytraining.food.gov.uk/english/rules-and-legislation/). This law concerns consumables only and these allergens are the ones that can cause death or illness. Sunshine and water are not ingestible, so completely irrelevant to this debate.

My point earlier in the thread was in response to some idiotic comment that Pret hadn't broken the law so are not responsible (the loophole in the law being not having to label stuff made on-site) . I believe that if they put one of the 14 allergens protected by law into a product they knew they wouldn't be arsed to label, they are at fault.

Also regardless if they assemble the product on site, I don't believe for a moment that they don't know in advance what their mass-produced baguettes contain.

As others have said if you have a serious allergy you are still stuck even with comprehensive ingredients lists. Very very few places / manufacturers will have the wherewithal to guarantee no cross contamination so every ingredients listing will contain the "this product may contain" spiel.

Before anyone corrects me, I should clarify that allergy to water is a contact allergy not an ingestible one, so doesn't apply in the case of food safety

People don’t get it
The misconception that but allergies are the most severe when in face regardless of the cause anaphylaxis is anaphylaxis.....
Companies not labelling properly and being complacent because let’s face it they probably come across so many dietary ‘choices’ they don’t then take true allergy seriously
Or like us.....ds has a severe egg allergy can’t even be in a room with egg being eaten or cooked ......we conveyed the seriousness of it to school backed up by a care plan etc and promptly found ourselves accused of munchausens 😳
Basically there’s a lack of awareness and understanding around allergies

*nut allergies

It isn’t just Pret. My son had a severe allergic reaction to chocolate cake on holiday - as it contained nuts. The allergens were incorrectly labelled, and the manager gave me the wrong information separately. He said the cake was nut free.

It was an all inclusive holiday. My son’s reaction was severe, and he could have easily gone into anaphylaxis, but I carry steroids - so between steroids and anti-histamine I managed his allergies reaction. His symptoms kept coming back for 4 days. It was so scary.

Point is - I emailed the holiday company to tell them and they didn’t care. Told me they feed thousands of people every season with no problem. Offered me money off another holiday with them. But tried their hardest not to admit it was their mistake. I had to push them to acknowledge the chocolate cake was incorrectly labelled- I wanted to know that to ensure there had been a reason for the reaction, and that he hadn’t gone into a spontaneous allergic reaction

In an airport you have to buy some food. It’s not a normal situation. I feel for this poor family - they didn’t do anything wrong.

But the knee jerk reaction of companies will be to say that everything ‘may contain nuts’ - it won’t make life any easier.

People saying, ‘at an airport you should always bring food from home’, an airport can be one of the hardest places to do that. There’s often a long journey to the airport, often not leaving from home in the first place and it can be a long day.

It should be possible for someone with allergies to buy something to eat from a mainstream shop like Pret. Or at least to clearly understand if they can’t and take their custom elsewhere.

Yes, ‘may contain’ can be a bit of a cop out and still leaves some risk for the allergic person to manage but as far as I know, none of the high profile fatalities have been due to cross contamination. I can understand it’s hard for companies to guarantee no contamination but they really should be able to tell people what the ingredients are or there’s something very wrong with their processes

‘May contain’ is a bit of a cop out, Anaphylaxis UK has a picture of chocolate that may contain nuts that has a whole nut in the chocolate. Either there’s a risk or there isn’t a risk.

Its just not clear. For my son’s hazelnut allergy I wouldn’t take the risk with ‘may contain nuts’. My daughter has a peanut allergy - she seems to think she’s safe with ‘may contain nuts’ unless it specifically mentions peanuts. Because people know about peanut allergy and highlight it, but other nuts are lumped together.

I do realise this post doesn’t make complete sense - but I think that’s because the situation isn’t clear. Business doesn’t understand allergies and the labelling isn’t clear, and when people with food allergies eat out they potentially risk their lives every time.

I noticed that everyone who seem to think that allergy sufferers should always prepare all their food at home themselves from scratch don't seem to actually suffer from allergies themselves. It is not practical or even possible if you are going on a 26 hour flight plus checking and transit times. What are you going to do when you get to the other side of the world?

We work on the principle of the food item has an allergen as an ingredient it's a no go. If it is a may contain then we risk assess. Chocolate for nut allergies is a no go even if that particular bar doesn't contain nuts as the chocolate is recycled in the machines at the end of production runs.

Life is one long risk assessment with food allergies. That assessment can only be done if food is bloody labelled in the first place. We have a right as consumers (allergies or not) to know what we are buying.