Food Allergy Awareness Comes to Restaurants

by Clare Leschin-Hoar, Posted Jan 26th 2011 @ 2:00PM

peanuts common food allergies Photo: ruurmo, Flickr

Over the weekend a tweet from celebrity chef Rick Bayless caught our attention. It read: "O, wht 2 do? Peanuts all thru r kitchen, severe allergy guest. Cnt serve in good conscience, 4 his safety. Says we owe him $ 4 inconvenience."

While we were unable to reach the chef to get the gritty details, the incident certainly caught the attention of Bayless' Twitter followers and those with food allergies -- who agreed that the chef made the right call, including Chris Wiess, VP of advocacy and government relations for the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN).

"When I first read the tweet, I was impressed with his response. It does seem like he took the issue to heart. If a restaurant manager or employee looked around and assessed the situation, and felt that they couldn't provide a safe meal, we wouldn't want them to take a risk. What Rick did was very admirable," said Weiss.

For chefs and restaurant owners, guests with food allergies aren't going away anytime soon, and the consequences are deadly serious. According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases 100 to 200 people die in the United States from severe food allergy-related reactions each year. (Keep reading, and take our food-allergy poll after the jump.)

In Massachusetts, restaurants are now required by law to display a food allergy awareness poster for staff, and include a notice at the bottom of menus which puts the diner on alert: "Before placing your order, please inform your server if a person in your party has a food allergy." And, as of Feb. 1, restaurants in the Bay State will be required to have a certified food protection manager on staff who has undergone allergen awareness training.

Longtime allergy advocate chef Ming Tsai helped produce training videos for FAAN, and has been a proponent of the Massachusetts law since the beginning. It's personal for the chef. His son, David, was born with seven of the eight major food allergies: soy, wheat, dairy, shellfish, eggs, tree nuts and peanuts. (The eighth is fish.)

"We've had a lot of interest from other states seeking to replicate Massachusetts' law, so we fully expect other states to come onboard," Chris Wiess said. "How soon that will be is tough to say. But what's happening in Massachusetts is putting food allergies on the map."

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Do you think restaurants should be more accommodating of food allergies?
Yes 138 (65.4%)
No 73 (34.6%)

Do you think restaurants should be more accommodating of food allergies?
Yes	138 (65.4%)
No	73 (34.6%)

Filed Under: Food News, Chefs
Tags: allergies, FAAN, food allergies, food allergies and dining out, Ming Tsai, Rick Bayless

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

1-26-2011 @2:24PM Jennifer Goetz said... I think this is great. I am a college student and I work part-time at Steakn' Shake. We are very big sticklers on quality, time, safety, and preparation. We do a great job of keeping the main food allergy (peanuts) away from other food. If we prepare anything with peanuts, we keep it separate from all other foods and clean the utensils, shake containers, cutting boards, and other items immediately after using.

My mother also has a severe allergy to fish. This limits our family greatly on where we can eat and what we can cook. I wish restaurants were more accommodating and more conscientious. I feel nervous taking my mom to certain restaurants, not knowing how the food is prepared.

I'm glad to know many other restaurants are finally dealing with this appropriately.
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1-26-2011 @3:10PM MK said... The thing that bothers me the most about this article is the part of Bayless' tweet where he states that the patron feels like Rick owes him something because he's not able to safely serve the customer a meal.

Dude! Rick possibly saved your life, and you want him to compensate you? If your allergy is severe enough that you can't eat in the restaurant, get out. It sounds like this was more than a case of "if you leave it our of my dish, I'll be fine" kind of reaction, that it was possibly dangerous.

It's not up to a restaurant to accommodate your life-threatening allergy--you should be responsible for your own well-being. Chef Bayless made a GOOD judgement call, and you want to punish him for it? Sounds like you are a entitled scammer.
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1-26-2011 @7:30PM Khürt Williams said... I don't know what's like to live with severe allergy to any kind of food. No one in my family — wife, kids, cousins etc — has any food allergy. However, that poll above bothers me. I like my peanut satay and fish and hate the idea that I may not be able to order it because of another patrons allergy. Soon we might not even be able to eat actual food at a restaurant with all food allergies. Imagine the restaurant that has to accommodate Ming Tsai's son.

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1-27-2011 @12:00AM MA Mom said... Actually Ming Tsai's restaurant Blue Ginger COULD accommodate his son's allergies and the food is spectacular. The poll and the directives of this allergy legislation don't say those foods can't be served. The goal is simply that restaurants do a better job at segregating ingredients, keeping things clean and organized, and having substitutions at the ready. Tsai has proven that it can be done and in a way that is not too onerous for the restaurant.
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1-27-2011 @1:10AM catastrophegirl said... as someone with an allergy that can be triggered by cross contamination, i applaud this chef. i've had everything from servers who got a requested order wrong and merely removed the offending ingredient in the kitchen, and lied about having the order corrected to servers who checked the ingredients on the salad dressing and brought me the package to check.
i always carry fast acting antihistamines because i never know. i've had my allergy triggered when someone switched the serving tongs between the pickles and the onions [the allergy is onions]
any chef that recognizes the cross contamination issue and respects it is fine by me!
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1-27-2011 @1:08PM talon8 said... My wife has the same situation! We don't meet a lot of people who have onion allergies. We work very hard at being very clear and up front. If a restaurant isn't comfortable serving us, and is more comfortable for us to leave... well, if it's up to me I'd rather my wife stay alive! Much respect to both Bayless and Tsai.

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1-28-2011 @6:23PM Michael Schmitt said... If you remove the Big 8 allergens from a restaurant (90% of the allergies come from milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, seafood, shellfish, soy and wheat), and suddenly you have a restaurant that can't cook hardly any food.

If you are going to DIE because of a reaction to a food, I would not put my faith into a restaurant being able to accommodate your medical condition.
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2-10-2011 @6:01AM Food allergies said... According research near about 2% of U.S. adults and 4 to 8% of kids have food allergies, which cause about 150 deaths each year. The people with allergies vary in the severity of their reactions, some will get a mild rash or an itchy tongue if they eat something that contains the allergen and the others may stop breathing and lose the consciousness.
http://www.biblehealth.com/latest-news/food-allergies-forerunner-cautioned-to-be-atopic-dermatitis.html
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2-22-2011 @6:39AM Lisa said... Peanut allergy is a rapid and severe reaction taking place in the body due to consumption of peanuts. Peanut allergy can result in severe symptoms such as atopic dermatitis. Hives and eczema come under this category. Peanut allergy can also lead to pain in the digestive system.http://www.aboutallergy.net/food-allergy-reactions.html

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