Survey Says: Dining Out Remains Risky for Food Allergics

Filed in archive Allergy: Research and Development , Food Allergies , Living with Allergies on April 24, 2007

Just how safe is it for people with food allergies to dine out? How much do restaurant staff know about food allergies? How seriously do they think of the matter?

According to a survey published at the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, it appears that dining out may be a greater risk than the personnel realize.

While approximately 90 percent of managers, servers and chefs reported varying degrees of "comfort" with providing a safe meal, numerous misconceptions were disclosed. For example, restaurant personnel reported that consuming a small amount of allergen is safe (24 percent); fryer heat destroys allergens (35 percent); and, removal of an allergen from a finished meal was safe (25 percent).

Food allergy registries indicate that reactions in restaurants accounted for up to 25 percent of accidental exposures in persons with peanut and tree nut allergies, and 15 of 32 percent of fatal reactions to foods began from food obtained in a restaurant or food establishment.

No wonder we continue to hear incidents of people having a reaction despite being assured by restaurant staff the their food is safe. Clearly there is a need for more info campaign regarding the gravity of food allergies. I wonder if, like the asthma-friendly certification for toys and beddings, it wwould be possible to get some sort of similar certification process for restaurants? Not necessarily meaning that the establishment should be allergen-free, but that the staff has gone through a seminar or training on food allergy and food safety.