The latest tragic news of the death of a 14-year-old English girl, travelling with her family to Rome, draws attention to the problem of allergen management in restaurants.
1) Allergies at the restaurant, the death of an English girl in Rome
A 14-year-old English girl, allergic to peanuts, had dinner with her family at a pizzeria on Via Gianicolense in Rome. After only 15 minutes, upon returning to the hotel, the young woman went into anaphylactic shock and died before reaching the San Camillo hospital, which is located a few hundred meters away.
The lethal contamination by undeclared allergens may have affected the possibly pre-packed dessert. The Public Prosecutor's Office at the Court of Rome has therefore started a manslaughter investigation against unknown persons, ordering an autopsy as well as inspections by the authorities responsible for official controls. (1)
2) Restaurants and public establishments, the responsibilities
The carrying out of any catering activity (trattorias, pizzerias, restaurants, agritourisms, hotels, take-aways, food delivery, canteens, catering) as well as the sale, also at a distance, of pre-packaged, loose and pre-wrapped foods (also by public establishments, traditional shops and street vendors, as well as via vending machines) is subject to very specific responsibilities, in terms of hygiene and food safety. (2)
Such responsibilities are expressed in the duties to apply the hygiene prerequisites, which include suitable sanitization procedures for the premises and equipment, as well as the risk analysis based on the HACCP (Hazard Analysis on Critical Control Point) criteria. (3)
Industrial operators must ensure that employees are trained in the 'culture of food safety' and the risks of accidental contamination that may occur in the preparation and administration or sale of food. With the mandatory duty to provide accurate information - to be reported in the menus and/or registers and on signs near each individual product on sale - on the presence, even if only possible, of specific allergens. (4)
3) Control authorities, responsibilities
The health authorities designated for official controls in the food sector are in turn responsible for verifying both the suitability and effective application of self-control procedures (good hygiene practices, HACCP, training) by operators, and the correct information on allergens.
The daily experience of each of us in any public establishment in any Region and province of Italy can also demonstrate the systematic omission, by the competent authorities, of the necessary controls on compliance with the regulations cited. In all areas of:
– food labels. There are still illegal PAL (Precautionary Allergens Labelling) (ie 'May contain nuts'and'cereals containing gluten'), in clear contrast with the European Commission guidelines (2017), (5,6)
– information on products sold loose. Bars, ice cream parlors, pastry shops, delicatessens, butchers continue to completely ignore the duty to provide exact information on the content of each of the products on display for sale (7)
– food delivery and distance selling. (8) Here too, the violation of the rules on information on the presence of allergens in home-delivered foods is endemic. Should allergy sufferers therefore give them up a priori?
– restaurants. The 'allergen' problem is so well-known and widespread that it has even been the subject of a scientific study with alarming results, in Germany (Loerbroks et al., 2019). (9) And the case of the English girl is the latest tragic confirmation of this.
4) Provisional conclusions
The only experience of correct application of the regulations to protect allergic consumers is recorded today in England. And it was the death of the young Natasha Ednan-Laperouse – killed by a sandwich that contained but did not declare the presence of sesame to which she was allergic – that motivated the adoption of the homonymous Natasha's Law. (10)
The rest of Europe continues to grope in the dark, in the shameful inability to apply rules already introduced in the Allergens Directive 2003/89/CE, repealed by the Food Information Regulation (EU) No 1169/11 which extended its scope to the 'food service'. The lethal events repeat themselves cyclically, the Member States and the European Commission do not react. (11) Until when?
#MakeAllergyHistory
Dario Dongo
Footnotes
(1) Rachel Hagan. British teen with peanut allergy dies on family holiday in Rome. Independent. 30.10.24 https://tinyurl.com/5n7h3xmx
(2) Dario Dongo. Hygiene in restaurants, the ABC. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(3) Dario Dongo. EU Reg. 2021/382. Allergen management, safety culture, food redistribution. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(4) Dario Dongo. Cross-contact allergens, OAS duties and responsibilities. FARE (Food and Agriculture Requirements). 12.11.22
(5) Dario Dongo. Allergens, EC guidelines. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(6) Commission Notice of 13 July 2017 relating to the provision of information on substances or products causing allergies or intolerances as listed in Annex II to Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the provision of food information to consumers [C/2017/4864] https://tinyurl.com/355eyr53
(7) Dario Dongo. Bulk and pre-wrapped foods, community. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(8) Dario Dongo. Food delivery, food safety risks. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(9) Dario Dongo. Allergies in restaurants, danger guaranteed. German study. FT (Food Times). 26.5.19
(10) Dario Dongo, Marina De Nobili. Allergens on pre-wrapped foods, more guarantees with Natasha's law in the UK. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(11) Dario Dongo. Allergy to milk, one death and one recall. The 'lactose-free' issue. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 18.4.22
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
