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.

Morrison’s don’t label all the ingredients in the sandwiches they make in store either. I bought a roll recently, can’t remember exactly what the roll was, was ham and something but not ham salad. Bit into it and there was a huge slice of tomato. Now I should have checked before biting in but there was a list of ingredients on the packaging which I’d checked. But after speaking to them they only list the “main” ingredients! I’d rather they didn’t list any to be honest because then I’d have looked.

Why would they be wrapped in cellophane? They are freshly made food. There is the option to have them toasted. They are not prepackaged sandwiches. If your not sure just ASK

Have you ever bought sandwiches from the pre packed, refrigerated sandwich and snack units of cafes and large chains? I have. You choose a sandwich, you go and pay. They are nearly always wrapped in cellophane, they rarely have ingredients on the label.
Big supermarkets tend to label allergens and are ace. Cafes even if a chain, not so much.
The case here seems to be freshly made off site - if it's made off site, how can the onsite staff know exactly what is in it?
Nightmare scenario.

Just searched walkingdeadfangirls other posts:
Bingo! Rightwing brexiter.

Walks off in to sunset whistling

DorasBob Proud to be a Brexiteer, I wont return the disguised insult favour and assume anything about you... 100% NOT minimising corporate responsibility, just trying to proportion it fairly. There is something called personal responsibility, on MN most of us are not children.

if I eat a tuna sandwich, after reading the label indicting it doesn’t have nuts in, and it does, it’s not my fault.
And in this case there was no labels, there was no indication, it was unlabelled fresh food, only an idiot would assume anything about the ingredients/allergies.

Personal responsibility.

And in this case there was no labels, there was no indication, it was unlabelled fresh food, only an idiot would assume anything about the ingredients/allergies.Personal responsibility.

Oh come off it - exactly! Do you suffer from allergies? Genuine question. You can look and look and keep yourself safe as much as you can,but if people are going to loophole putting allergens on the labels as it's not baked on site so don't have to or whatever, you've no chance. I read everything religiously but if it's not there, what do you do? "They have to state by law" -then you trust it does. Not "it has to state by law but if it's baked offsite then the rules can change..." erm ,nope. Especially as a teenager, you just don't process that level as you're young.

This is why I don't buy pre paid sandwiches from places such as Pret or Greggs.
I see the sandwiches, think they look nice, want one, but I'm old enough and too much experience to think it's just not worth it (egg allergy, thankfully not life threatening but nasty just the same)
A teenager? My allergies then I'd be more oh I'll pick up this sandwich, there's no allergens on it and you just eat it. As you don't know any better. You think you'll be reet.
I might have picked up a prepacked sandwich in the past that had hidden mayo for example. Didn't know it was in there. Enough to make me very ill but not kill me. Tragically this girl did the same,
didn't make it though.

Haven't read the entire thread so I might be duplicating but in cafes/take-aways, ALL products should be labelled with list of ingredients/list of ingredients should be available when asked for. (It should be the law!!!)
My daughter has a serious dairy allergy.
Some places are great and some are awful - I've reported two places to trading standards who have given her food containing dairy when we have specifically stated she cannot have dairy.
People just don't take allergies seriously enough. It's shocking.
How awful for this girl's family & friends 💐

I’m glad that Pret have improved their labelling and if they were obeying the law when this happened then they can’t really be held responsible.
I think people who don’t have allergies underestimate how draining and unproductive it can be asking staff about ingredients. Even the better experiences can involve more than one member of staff and a big folder of ingredients to trawl through. It’s not reasonable to expect someone to never eat out and it’s not always possible to take a packed lunch everywhere when travelling. It’s an accessibility issue really and it only needs a bit of care and process to make it safe for everyone. The worse experiences usually involve staff not being prepared to commit to anything being allergen free or just being really clueless (‘chef’ telling me all bread has eggs in it) so you have no confidence in what they’re saying.

Also as pp said, allergies can change in severity. Someone could have had very mild reactions, think that bread doesn’t as a rule have sesame in it and take what seems like a tiny risk in a busy sandwich shop. This girl was not irresponsible and it’s terribly sad that this happened

If you have such a severe allergy, why would you eat something you can't be 100% confident with? I have coeliac disease - so unpleasant if caught out but not deadly - and I don't eat anything I can't prove is safe. If I had a deadly allergy I most certainly wouldn't. I wouldn't say this is pret's fault, but it is unfortunate. Even if it was all labelled perfectly, that wouldn't account for cross contamination so it couldn't be labelled truly free from any allergen.

Thus, if I eat a tuna sandwich, after reading the label indicting it doesn’t have nuts in, and it does, it’s not my fault

@DorasBo No one is saying that. They're saying that if there isn't a label, it's your responsibility to make sure there aren't any nuts in it. Not assume that because Tuna sandwiches don't normally have nuts in them, this one won't either.

walkingdeadfangirl
“only an idiot would assume anything about the ingredients/allergies.”

She was a CHILD and she DIED.
You should be fucking ashamed for that comment in this context.

I read everything religiously but if it's not there, what do you do?

I actually have a child with a life threatening issue. Not an allergy but there is a chemical in some foods that reacts very badly to the life saving medication they are on.

We do religiously ask about every single bit of fresh food we buy, it never becomes a bore, its my child's life. If its not there we do NOT eat it, its pretty simple, its not life limiting.

I am the same about being vegetarian. Why would anyone ever take the chance? if there is no label about the allergens we dont buy it, its really not hard, its not the shops fault and nothing to do with my politics.

Even the better experiences can involve more than one member of staff and a big folder of ingredients to trawl through

Agreed, if it's nothing you have to go through as you have no allergies, then great, you're not going to understand as you're not going to get it.
Try saying "has this got egg in it?" for example at a pre packaged chain and they nearly always have to go off and check. My most recent being Nandos as wanted to know what the sauces you ca add contained. You trust them. (Anyone reading, they're nearly all eggy.)

I actually have a child with a life threatening issue. Not an allergy but there is a chemical in some foods that reacts very badly to the life saving medication they are on.

Thing there though that stands out is it's your child. Not you. If you're a child or teen, with allergies, you know what you can and can't have. You look out for them as a parent up until a certain age. How old's your child if you don't mind me asking? There comes a point at teen that if they have an allergy they're going to have to make decisions for themselves. They might know they have one, but if there's no ingredients and they ask too then they think it's OK.

Cardiganandcuppa, I think you should. read the whole thread, and learn the actual context. That comment I made was not about the teenager who died in this instance.

I am feel immensely sorry for what happened to them, its only a heart beat away from something that might happen to me.

That is why I would never buy fresh food without any guarantee about the ingredients.

My daughter has a serious dairy allergy. Some places are great and some are awful

Same here, as in similar experience - eg daren't eat in a certain chicken fast food place for years as I was badly ill last time I ate there as in they put mayo all over it even though had instructed them not to as was allergic. Only found out when took a bite and was promptly sick.

rainbowsandsmiles I am not having a go at the family in this tragedy. It was a horrible accident.

Of course it could happen to my teen (16 yo by the way) and it has been banged into them their whole lives, by us, the hospital and many doctors. I am confident they understand the issue and if they messed up and ate food without checking first, I would not blame the company.

In this case the teenager didn't ask, she guessed. Its was a tragic accident. She was with her Dad so unclear why he allowed it as well.

Pret food (which I prefer to most other outlets) should be better labelled generally I think. We bought some Pret food to take on a plane journey last week. When we boarded the plane they announced that there was a passenger on board with a nut allergy so they weren’t selling nuts as snacks and could we not eat any other food that might contain nuts. Since our unlabelled Pret food could conceivably have had nuts in it we couldn’t risk opening it. Our other snacks all definitely contained nuts so that was a long and hungry journey.

Like other posters, ime Pret is terrible re allergies - staff, if asked, are vague.

In this case the teenager didn't ask, she guessed. Its was a tragic accident. She was with her Dad so unclear why he allowed it as well

Doesn't seem so cut and dried in this scenario though - from what I've read it was a pre packaged sandwich in the fridge. With no potential allergens listed. Sesame is a major one that should be on there.
Even asking doesn't always guarantee places get it right if you ask (see my earlier comment) I can totally see why this poor girl didn't and it slipped her dad by too.

Doesn't seem so cut and dried in this scenario though - from what I've read it was a pre packaged sandwich in the fridge. With no potential allergens listed. Sesame is a major one that should be on there.

So ask if there's sesame. If they can't give you a certain answer, don't eat it.

Even asking doesn't always guarantee places get it right if you ask

If they give you incorrect information then it's absolutely the shop's fault and they should be held responsible.

The trouble with Pret (as someone with multiple allergies) is that they’re not consistent. They label some allergens sometimes, and others not at all. They are really inconsistent with sesame, that has caught me out before too. They also put poppy seeds in a ridiculous number of sandwich fillings, and don’t even have them listed as an ingredient. I’ve emailed their head office before as I’ve had allergic reactions to food I’ve checked in their allergy book. I hate eating there and avoid them where I can, and have one sandwich I know is safe if I have to go there.

To people putting the burden of checking on the 15yr old, sadly there is some truth in that, but it’s utterly wearing checking every label of everything you eat, and it’s easy to slip up. It’s also reasonable to trust labelling in a chain store where fillings are standardised across branches. It’s not a local cafe, it’s an international chain. Where allergens are listed it’s fair to assume it’s a comprehensive list, and irresponsible for the list to then exclude one of the most common allergens.

I've flat out in places as a teenager said I'm allergic to eggs, don't put it on there before.
I've still ended up with traces of mayonnaise on there. Even if it's been assured there won't be any put on.
If you're a teenager, you go along. As you trust.
Can see why this girl and her sesame seed allergy slipped by. Easily done. Nobody thinks it's going to be serious until it is.

Dreadful, poor girl.
There is no apostrophe missing by the way.

This thread, and people saying it's the fault of the child who died (some even going so far as to say she must have been 'an idiot') is deeply uncomfortable, and I'd even say sickening.

If you want to have an opinion on food labelling in restaurants then fine, go for it. But it seems really wrong to sit on your computer and weigh up whether someone's beautiful 15 year old daughter, who died tragically, was actually at fault. I can't believe people actually feel that this is an ok thing to do. Have some compassion and decency. I am acquainted with the family and I pray they never read this.