A death resulting from a severe nut allergy has led to the first conviction for manslaughter since restaurants and pubs have been legally obliged to provide information about the allergen content of food they serve.
Some in the industry have been slow to embrace the new regime with staff reportedly providing inaccurate or incorrect allergen information. Surely no one can now afford to ignore the seriousness of this issue after Mohammed Zaman’s recent conviction for manslaughter by gross negligence, resulting in a 6 year prison sentence.
In order to save money, the owner of the Indian Garden restaurant had switched almond powder for a cheaper substitute which contained ground peanuts. Staff supplied curry to one diner who had a severe nut allergy. The order was marked “nut free” and the takeaway was marked as “nut free” on the lid. The diner tragically died after eating the curry.
No operator can now be in doubt about the importance of knowing exactly what is in the food that is served and giving customers accurate information about allergen content.
See related Freeths’ articles for more detail on the obligations:
- Allergen regulations still a cause for concern for hotel and hospitality managers
- Food fraud – know what you are serving up
