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Original poster

Has anyone been in a restaurant/cafe that has refused to heat up your baby's food in the microwave due to "health and safety law"?

54 replies

BelleEpoque · 22/10/2008 19:24

Hi,

I was in La Tasca in Canary Wharf today, and they refused to heat up my DD's baby food, that was homemade and in a tupperware. They said it was because of Health and Safety law. I asked them which law as that seemed a bit stupid to me. How can heating up some food in a sealed container in the microwave pose a risk to anyone?

I've been to lots of places that are more than happy to heat up the food for you if you are eating there. Needless to say, we went somewhere else, to The Fine Line for lunch where they were absolutely lovely and helpful and heated up the food for us np.

Has anyone else come across this? Does anyone know if there is an actual health and safety law that says "don't heat up baby food that your customers bring in"?It just seems completely stupid and jobsworth to me.

OP posts:

CandleQueen · 22/10/2008 21:07

I was in Costa the other day and they couldn't give me a cup of hot water to warm a bottle in. They could do it, but had to leave it behind the counter. They would allow to walk through the coffee shop carrying a very large cup of scalding hot coffee though..,

ScottishMummy · 22/10/2008 21:08

people are so litigious they dont want the hassle.total risk minimisation=no heat food

BloodshotEyeballsintheScarySky · 22/10/2008 21:08

This is the main reason I love the Ikea restaurant. Microwaves all over the place, do it yourself, none of their business. They even provide children's bows and cutlery. Fantastic.

Original poster

BelleEpoque · 22/10/2008 21:14

Yes definately like that in IKEA too. They also have that in motorway service stations too. Very helpful.

CandleQueen, I know that's nuts, walking through the shop with a hot coffee is ok, but a cup of hot water is a health and safety risk. I think the Daily Mail would call it "health and safety gone mad"!

This is what I mean, we need some common sense in the world!

OP posts:

QuintessentialShadows · 22/10/2008 21:17

Yes, my local Costa in Putney. They would give me a large cup of hot water I could submerge containers in. It is quite common.

ElfOnTheTopShelf · 22/10/2008 21:20

Yes, and the community police got involved...

Original poster

BelleEpoque · 22/10/2008 22:01

I am BelleEpoque's husband, and I'd just like to say that I too was at La Tascagate in Canary Wharf.

I would just like to give my opinion on this matter too.

My opinion is that I agree with my wife.

(How's that eh, make a pretty good husband don't I?)

Ps - My Daughter has an opinion too. It's 'Da Da Da - Agoooo'.

OP posts:

readyfornum2 · 23/10/2008 07:25

I worked in Frankie and bennys and we would either give a bowl of water or heat in the microwave and then get mum to check the temperature in front of us, but we did have to state they we were not responsible if the food/milk was too hot.

I just used to take a flask of water everywhere just in case

QuintessentialShadows · 23/10/2008 12:50

BelleEpoques husband.

Does your wife know you are posting on her login?

Why not create your own login? Mumsnet is not just for mums, we have men here too. Really, it is a site for parents, or if you may people who like to opine together on parenting (or other) issues! You seem to fit right in! Welcome!

expatinscotland · 23/10/2008 12:53

Personally, if this is the most you have to get het up about these days, consider yourself lucky.

They didn't heat it up for you, it's not something that unusual, you found somewhere else to eat.

Job done.

I wouldn't hesitate to eat there myself. For one, I wouldn't want anyone but myself heating up my child's food and for two, we served all our kids' food at room temp when they were babies.

The phrase 'mountain out of a moehill' springs to mind.

expatinscotland · 23/10/2008 12:57

'Of course I stir the food to prevent hotspots after heating, and then I let it cool down a bit. I wouldn't burn my baby's mouth by giving her piping hot food.'

As pointed out here, a lot of people are chancers who would do this or make like they would just to sue the restaurant or just get a free meal, some restaurants have insurance policies that don't allow this practice, others just don't want to be arsed.

So find one that provides the service or alternatives.

QuintessentialShadows · 23/10/2008 12:59

You could always just go camping.

flowerybeanbag · 23/10/2008 13:01

Definitely one of the reasons I was so pleased we did BLW. No faffing with containers of food and finding somewhere to heat up - we were feeding him bits of our dinner or ordering from the children's menu from 6 months.

TheUnsinkableMB · 23/10/2008 13:11

Why don't you heat it up at home then put it into a flask?

I was well aware that not all restaurants heat baby food, so in order to save myself and my dd stress or hassle I just carried a flask everywhere.

Original poster

BelleEpoque · 23/10/2008 13:23

Expatinscotland: yes maybe some people are so screwed up they would burn their child in order to get a free meal or sue a restaurant. That;s seems a bit sick to me. And maybe some people are just plain stupid they would not stir the food or wait to it cools down before giving it to their child. SO I guess if we have to legislate for stupidity that's what needs to happen.

I don;t know what your aggressive tone is all about, but I think you need to take not get so het up yourself. You are entitled to your opinion but there is no need to get personal with it by saying things like: "making a mountain out of a molehill". If we are going down that route, then the phrase "people in glass houses shouldn;t throw stones" springs to mind.

OP posts:

QuintessentialShadows · 23/10/2008 13:25

Geez, think about it.

Dont you see that this opens up to the possibility of scamming a free meal/drink by people claiming the child got burnt? It does not necessarily have to be the truth!

expatinscotland · 23/10/2008 14:02

BelleEpoque, you obviously haven't been around here too long because if you find straight talk is 'aggressive' you're in for a fun time here .

If you are in fact BelleEpoque and not the husband or whoever.

As for naming and shaming, I'd be careful with that.

People have done that here in the past and gotten into a bit of legal hot water with it.

expatinscotland · 23/10/2008 14:02

QS, am emailing you just the now - got a package, even in this atrotious weather!

mazzystartled · 23/10/2008 14:12

belle, you really need to chill out about this
leaving a restaurant of choice because they couldn't [unneccesarily, imo] heat up food in precisely your manner of choice is a very high stress way to go about your parenting.
and if you go about "naming and shaming" people for following their health and safety poilicy you could not only end up in legal trouble but end up looking a bit of a div

MadamDeathstare · 23/10/2008 14:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

BelleEpoque · 25/10/2008 10:04

Expat and Mazzy,

Thanks for the legal advice (which by the way, are either of you qualified to give?) but I think it would be very difficult to get into legal hot water for recounting an event/conversation that actually happened, and saying what your opinion on it was. It's called freedom of speech. People give their opinions on the services they recieved all the time, e.g on sites like Toptable they give restaurant reviews. Do they all get sued by saying something negative? No of course they don't.

Thanks also Mazzy for your concern about my stress levels, but there really is nothing to worry about. It's just about exercising consumer choice. Where would I rather eat lunch, somewhere where the staff are lovely and accomodating towards families, or somewhere where they are not? It's a no brainer really. Personally, if I was running a business I would be doing whatever I could to get customers through the door, especially in this climate. But it's a free country and they are entitled to implement whatever policy they see fit.

OP posts:

jimjamshaslefttheyurt · 25/10/2008 10:07

9 years ago when ds1 was small almost everywhere would heat up baby food or bottles. By the time ds3 (now 3) was a baby almost nowhere would.

Probably a change in insurance cover following parents trying it on.

Original poster

BelleEpoque · 25/10/2008 10:22

QS, yes I see that some people could try and scam a free/meal drink by claiming their child got burnt. Do people really do that though? Maybe a minority do, but that is a very stressful and desperate way to live life.

OP posts:

ChloeandAlfie · 25/10/2008 10:44

I've found this too. I can completely understand their need to cover their backs.

It's the inconsistency that does my head in.

In John Lewis in Southampton, they point blank refuse to even give you a bowl of hot water to even heat it yourself (yet they serve scalding hot coffee and tea). Yet at the Kingston branch, they have supplied a microwave for you to heat it up yourself. When I moaned at the staff in Southampton and told them about Kingston, they said that Kingston were breaching company policy and were at fault...

I've resorted to a baby food flask by Thermos. You heat up the food piping hot in the morning, heat up the flask with hot water before you put the food in, and voila! The food is the perfect temp by lunchtime. They sell them in Jojo Maman Baby.

Also helps when the little ones are old enough to eat sandwiches instead...

Original poster

BelleEpoque · 25/10/2008 11:00

I think the people who are saying that its not jobsworth to follow their restaurants policy are actually right. I was probably being a bit harsh in saying that, but I still think it's a dumb policy.

OP posts:

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