Allergic Reaction To Food

[ian124]

We spent a long time planning a wedding and reception and had many meetings with the reception staff. They were made aware no nuts could be in any of the food as one the children has a really bad allergic reaction to nuts. He would even have a reaction if someone else had eaten nuts and then spoke to him. While my wife and I were off having pictures the waiters brought round some canapés. When the child in question asked the waiter if these contained nuts he was told no, there are also witnesses that herd him ask. He ate one and had a reaction within minutes. Him and his parents had to leave thankfully he is fine. Later when we asked at the reception if any food had nuts in the receptionist just said I don't know and carried on what she was doing. We have also asked why nuts were around at all when we were told there were no nuts, to Which we were told the child and his parents are lying and he must have eaten something before the wedding. We were then told that the children should not have been eating the canapés as they were for the adults only, if this is the case why did the waiters off them to all the children?

Anyway what I am wondering is am I in the right to ask for the money back from the venue for the meals of the guests that had to leave?

Thanks

Ian

[DTCwordfan]

Satay equals nuts, all should have known that! Not exactly rocket science.

[gness]

In a case so severe I can see their point, Boxy but for me it's just peanuts.
I make sure I say or ask about peanuts and now groundnut oil and I would be more than a little cross if I was then given something with nuts hidden in it.
If this lad's only allergy is peanut then precautions were taken by Ian and should really have been adhered to by the caterers. Or they should have been informed before the meal that no precautions were taken. x

[EvianBaby]

In a case as severe as this child's I would also do as Eddie suggested. It's up to a parent to protect their 11 year old and you can't expect an 11 year old to know what satay is.

I don't know the legalities but I think it's probably worth trying to get some sort of gesture from them, just for the way they appear to be so obtuse and blasé.

[FredPuli43]

Be practical and see what offer you get from the proprietors.
As a matter of law, you have difficulties. What was the actual loss in terms of injury or suffering consequent upon what happened to the child? And there's the problem

[EDDIE51]

Gness if you had an allergy as severe as the case of this child it would be almost impossible to ever 'eat out' . Eating only your own food would become a necessity just to live safely.
This is the most severe case I have heard of ''reaction even if someone who had eaten nuts spoke to him'' what if someone, staff /guest, had felt hungry and nibbled on a packet of peanuts or a bar of fruit and nut then spoke to him?
The parents are at fault here for allowing the child to get into the situation in the first place . Far safer to take the child's own food than to change the menu for an entire wedding reception .
Another point, the waiting staff were almost certainly temps from an agency , few hotels have sufficient full time staff to do a wedding reception, most agency staff do not have English as their first language and would not be expected to know what satay was or what was in every type of food served.
In my opinion this was a virtual certainty not an accident, the parents did not take sufficient precautions in view of the extreme nature of the allergy.

[Maydup]

I agree that the parents should be vigilant but if the menu choices were made months ahead then there really is no excuse for the venue serving an item that is clearly off limits. Very poor customer service.

[bednobs]

it's so difficult isn't it - when i first read this my immediate thought was that you were making a big fuss and exaggerating. However, i am lucky enough not to need trips to hospital for just eating things so don't really have a clue what it's like!
I agree with the people who said that if the allergy is that severe, that even breathing on the child after eating nuts he has a reaction it might be better to have taken his own food, but then i think "why should he"
so, in summary i am on the fence!

[tonywiltshire]

Ian, you would be right to claim from the providers of the arrangements any costs you suffered due to their failure to take proper notice of instructions given, this may be a complex issue and I suggest you seek professional advice. If it is a claim for professional negligence you would need the providers of the arrangements to owe you a duty of care, which having special skills, that person would be expected to show the skill of an average member of that profession. Negligence can be used to bring a civil action when there is no contract under which proceedings can be brought; normally it is easier to sue for breach of contract. Take advice, the possibility of action may be all that is required.

[cassa333]

During your many meetings with the reception staff did you chose your menu? or did you just say 'I have £xx per head pick some food that doesn't have nuts'?

Or did you chose the menu with out the adition of nuts and they then changed the menu without consultation?

[EDDIE51]

I work in a commercial catering. There is no way any caterer could guarantee nut free food to the degree needed here . All the stuff we buy in bread, cakes dessert ingredients, flour everything has a note in the small print saying something like
'' we can not guarantee that traces of nuts are not present as nuts are used in the process plants where the product is made''
For a child with such a severe allergy to be safe he/she can only eat hypoallergenic food from a certified supplier. No commercial caterer would agree providing a buffet for a wedding reception where such a child was allowed to eat the food, they would have insisted that the child was supplied with their own food. The insurance provider would never allow it even if the manager was willing to take the risk .

[EDDIE51]

Just specifying ''no nuts in any food'' is not enough in these circumstances.