More of a WWYD than AIBU chicken in a vegan sandwich.

[6demandingchildren]

My lovely step mum is moving and the family have got together to move her today, my dad went to a local bakery to get everyone lunch, my husband is the only vegetarian and my dad got him a chickpea coronation sandwich after double checking with the assistant my dad spent over £50 in there, after a few mouthfuls my husband came across a large chunk of chicken looked in the sandwich and there was small bits of chicken in it, I contacted them through Facebook messenger they have read my message that says

My father came to you early this afternoon and bought lots of food for the family, the coronation chickpea sandwich however contained chicken after the vegetarian who was eating it found out it also contained no chickpeas.
We still have half left with the packaging, how would you like to move forward with this issue?
Regards

But obviously won't get a reply now until Monday at the earliest.
What else can I do?

I think it's one of those things that really sucks but can't really do much else. You sent a message, you can leave them a review on something to warn others and then just never visit.

Initially, I thought you were making a bit of a fuss, easy mistake, irritating but not a huge issue

On reflection, I think this is serious. Allergies can be fatal

I guess you could report to trading standards and leave them to follow it up

@FinallyFluid

Meanwhile in the Ukraine.

Fuck sake, there is a world outside of Ukraine. Just because something terrible is happening somewhere in the world doesn't mean we are not allowed to get annoyed by anything else. Your post just makes you look stupid

@StiltonIsLife

YABU. Sure inform them, but it's not urgent issue so wouldn't expect a reply before next working day. I used to be a vegetarian and have few times been given meat (chicken) by mistake. I've lived to tell the tale.

Good for you

But many people who order vegan food, do so because they have life-threatening allergies to products like egg. Ordering a vegan sandwich that contains non-vegan ingredients could kill them.

And the newly introduced "Natasha's Law" means this is actually quite a serious mistake. Food items must be accurately labelled by law after that poor girl died due to eating a sandwich that contained sesame.

You can't treat every 'what if' like the end of the world. No one ate an allergen in this scenario. If the bakery are suitably horrified at their screw up and take steps to label their food better, that's the right outcome.

Trading Standards would disagree with you @misspercy.

You can be fined up to £5,000 per incidence as well as other legal consequences.

www.northants-chamber.co.uk/blog/the-dangers-of-non-compliance-to-natashas-law

This isn't "just one of those things".

People saying that this isnt a big deal......it really is!

Mislabelling items as veggie when they are not is bad enough but when said items contain allergens, which this does, it could kill someone. I have known people lose their jobs over things like because the risk that it takes down an entire business is too high to risk.

And that was grammatically appalling but I hope you get the idea!

‘… mistake can mil people who have severe allergies.’

Any foods containing known allergens are handled differently. People with known food allergies are far more cautious than just rocking up to get a sandwich. There is significant set of liabilities placed upon manufacturers & retailers about foods containing known allergens, accurate labelling & cross-contamination are taken seriously.

This was a muddle &/or mix up in the ordering/selection of a sandwich.

But many people who order vegan food, do so because they have life-threatening allergies to products like egg

Exactly, like me as I posted upthread - allergic to egg so order vegan a lot when out.

misspercy I am confused by your comment. If you are casual about this and the bakery says "sorry, won't do it again" can you really guarantee they they will take it seriously and not accidentally give you an ingredient you are allergic to in your next sandwich? Because they obviously didn't care this time.
The OP needs to be polite and calm and not necessarily demanding money back so it can be taken seriously.

@UniversalAunt

‘… mistake can mil people who have severe allergies.’

Any foods containing known allergens are handled differently. People with known food allergies are far more cautious than just rocking up to get a sandwich. There is significant set of liabilities placed upon manufacturers & retailers about foods containing known allergens, accurate labelling & cross-contamination are taken seriously.

This was a muddle &/or mix up in the ordering/selection of a sandwich.

It is a sandwich containing allergens (gluten, according to the label).

Natasha's Law says that food like this MUST be correctly labelled. It's no longer an optional thing - it's the law and is (rightly) taken very seriously.

The premises could be fined upto 5k for this one incident alone if OP chose to pursue it via Trading Standards.

…as @PyongyangKipperbang @fairylightsandwaxmelts have just mentioned in their posts anything related to known food based allergens is quite rightly taken very seriously.

Some allergic reactions are severe enough to require immediate medical attention.

@UniversalAunt

‘… mistake can mil people who have severe allergies.’

Any foods containing known allergens are handled differently. People with known food allergies are far more cautious than just rocking up to get a sandwich. There is significant set of liabilities placed upon manufacturers & retailers about foods containing known allergens, accurate labelling & cross-contamination are taken seriously.

This was a muddle &/or mix up in the ordering/selection of a sandwich.

It wasn’t a muddle up in the person ordering the sandwich because the sandwich was in packaging labelled as being dairy and egg free.

There are plenty of occasions were somebody will buy food for a relative and say ‘is this vegan?’ To check it’s dairy free, and legally that will cover them unless someone making the food messes up, even more so when the food is labelled with a full ingredients list. It’s not like he said when ordering ‘is this vegan because my son in law doesn’t eat chicken’, the sandwich should have been treated in an allergy safe way regardless of who was ordering it or why.

I'm gonna say this bakery is in Billingshurst

@fairylightsandwaxmelts you are right about the gluten being labelled as an allergen.

If the OP’s concern about the sandwich being vegan to avoid egg or diary, I missed that. I read the post to be about getting chicken rather than chickpea, so the sandwich wasn’t vegan/vegetarian rather than a reasonable concern about allergens.

When we got the wrong food last week we got a replacement as they were still open, plus a voucher for a free meal on another day. The manager offered it without hesitation. We will use it and likely spend more money because we will buy for the rest of the family though the voucher does not require a purchase. Very pragmatic on the part of the business, We felt respected and they get a repeat customer.

Some people are being shite here. I'm vegan and I would fucking hate to buy a sandwich I was told was vegan and had meat in it. All you really cool meat eaters on this thread - yes we all get you like to eat animals but not all of us to.

Do*

Sorry @Lockheart it was you who quoted another poster & I’d mixed myself up.

If the bakery has made a mistake by selling you coronation chicken packaged as coronation chickpea, that is potentially a serious issue for them and they will need to look at their procedures and staff training; if someone has allergy to something then mistakes like that could be life threatening. I would expect a refund / gift voucher and a donate apology (and I know that's what my friend who owns a deli would do).
However, someone misunderstood the order and your dad asked for one thing and got something else, but clearly labelled with the correct contents which you failed to read, then that's an honest mistake and not really the bakery's fault. These things happen - who hasn't picked up the wrong flavour of crisps, or shampoo when you want conditioner etc. Maybe they might offer you a goodwill sandwich & coffee but they might offer nothing.

[quote UniversalAunt]@fairylightsandwaxmelts you are right about the gluten being labelled as an allergen.

If the OP’s concern about the sandwich being vegan to avoid egg or diary, I missed that. I read the post to be about getting chicken rather than chickpea, so the sandwich wasn’t vegan/vegetarian rather than a reasonable concern about allergens.[/quote]
Again, you're missing the point.

It doesn't matter why her husband wanted a vegan sandwich. It could be because he's fussy, due to an intolerance, an allergy or even due to a religious preference. A vegan sandwich should be vegan. Period.

If you order vegan food, you should get vegan food. I really don't understand what's so hard to grasp about that.

As has been said numerous times, people order vegan as they have allergies to items like eggs which can be fatal. If the food is labelled as vegan when it isn't, the business can get into a lot of trouble - fines and worse.

What are you expecting here? Apology? Refund? What? Yes it's not good. You can't order a vegan sandwich and think it's ok to be given chicken. But what outcome exactly are you gunning for here?

How are people still not getting......people can die from mistakes like this!

A momentary mistake in the kitchen can cost someone their life, which is why I and the tens of thousands of others who have worked in hospitality have to take and renew our food hygience, food safety and allergen training. Its also why I personally know of a few people who simply never eat out because the risk of a fuck up isnt a risk they can afford to take.

What else can I do?
Wait until Monday for their response. If you're not happy with the response, then take further steps. I imagine it will be an apology and refund for the offending sandwich.

And their is a 5p difference

Mislabelled food can have awful consequences.
You have done the right thing by bringing it to their attention.