Going out to eat with friends or family and want some guidance on how to prepare for it? We’ve pulled together some tips and advice to help you feel more confident.
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Before you go: how to prepare for success!
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When you get there…
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Get to know the Law
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What if something goes wrong?
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Possible scenarios
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Key messages
Before you go
Prepare an allergy action plan with your treating doctor or specialist and carry it with your emergency medication at all times. Visit our page on allergy action plans for more information and to download your own.
Discuss risk with your treating doctor. For example, be aware that factors such as alcohol, tiredness, infections, poorly treated asthma can raise the risk of a reaction being severe.
You might like to run through a risk checklist before you eat out:
- Who am I going out with? Do they know about my allergy?
- What do I need to tell them about my allergy?
- Are we going to eat food?
- Where is my AAI?
- How is my asthma today?
- Have I had a virus? Am I bunged up with sniffles?
- Have I had an eczema flare-up?
- Have I been exercising
- Are we likely to eat somewhere really difficult for me?
- How far away from paramedic rescue are we here?
- Have I eaten there before?
- How will I check it is OK for me?
- Can I get us to eat somewhere else?
- How will I talk to the staff?
- What will I say?
- Maybe I shouldn’t eat anything?
- Will I be drinking?
- Will my friends be drinking?
- Has anybody got a car?
- If I have a reaction, how would I call an ambulance?
- What would I say?
- Who will I tell?
If the risks are high on a particular occasion, it may be best not to eat anything.
Before you go: General tips
- Be aware of the sorts of foods that may be high risk for your particular allergy. For example, Oriental cuisine is likely to be high risk if you have a nut allergy. Obviously if you’re fish/seafood allergic you should avoid restaurants that specialise in fish/seafood dishes.
- Grilled food may be safer than fried as frying pans/woks may not be cleaned thoroughly after cooking allergenic dishes. However some restaurants cook everything on the same griddle area, fish, meat, etc. This requires a conversation really.
- Be cautious of any dishes with sauces or dressings unless you’re certain of what they contain. Sauces may contain hidden allergens such as wheat flour. Indian dishes/curries may be thickened with peanut flour or ground almonds. Bread rolls can often contain nuts or seeds.
- Be aware that recipes for a particular dish can vary from one restaurant to another and even in the same restaurant. A different chef may add or leave out particular ingredients. So just because you’ve eaten something on one occasion and been OK, doesn’t mean the dish is necessarily safe next time. ALWAYS check!
- Unless you are served first avoid buffet/self-serve style restaurants as there’s likely to be a high risk of cross-contamination. Sometimes staff may take your food off the buffet before other people serve themselves.
- If you plan to attend a catered event where the food will be prepared in advance, ask if it’s possible to provide an allergy-friendly option, but be prepared to wait whilst staff find your special food. If this isn’t possible or if there’s any uncertainty, bring your own safe option
If you have time, check restaurant websites
- Some restaurants state they understand food allergy and encourage customers to discuss their allergy with them.
- Some have lists of their products and whether they contain/are free from specific major allergens. Chain restaurants are often a safe bet as the ingredients tend to be standardized throughout the chain.
- Sometimes a safe option such as a jacket potato may be a good idea. Pick out one or two dishes from the menu that look as if they may be suitable, then:
- Call ahead of your visit at a time when the restaurant is unlikely to be busy and ask to speak to the person in charge, ideally the manager or chef.
- Ask about the dish/es that you’d like to choose and if they’d be suitable.
- Ask about ingredients, how the food is prepared and whether cross contamination with your allergens is likely. Speak clearly, factually, politely and calmly.
- Ask if the person you’ve spoken to is likely to be present when you visit. If not, ask for details of the best person to speak to.
- Consider taking a “Chef card”. You can download these from website of the Food Standards Agency (FSA).
- Ideally, visit when the restaurant is likely to be less busy, e.g. earlier in the evening of on a weekday (rather than Friday or Saturday night). Staff are likely to have more time to consider your requests if they aren’t mad busy!
Make sure you have your medication with you, that it’s in date and that you know how to use it.
At least one person dining with you should know about your allergy and understand how to support you.
When you get there
- Ask to speak to the person you spoke with on the phone or the person recommended. If you don’t have a specific named individual, ask to speak to the chef or at least for your request to be relayed to the chef.
- Ask about the dish/es that you’d like to choose and if they’d be suitable.
- Ask about ingredients, how the food is prepared and whether cross contamination with your allergens is likely. Speak clearly, factually, politely and calmly.
- Ask the server to make a note of your allergy/ies. Give them the chef card if you have one.
- Confirm that the dish you would like to order is free from your allergen/s, derivates and from cross contamination and that it has been prepared safely.
- If the staff member you speak to appears confident that the food you’re ordering is safe then great! If you’re not confident that your request is being taken seriously, if they don’t seem to ‘get it’, if they can’t or won’t confirm that the food is free from your allergen/s, or if they won’t respond to your requests, it may be better to eat elsewhere. Tell them politely that you are unable to eat there and leave.
- Alternatively, if your friends want to stay, just have a drink and enjoy their company.
- When your food arrives, check again with the server that it doesn’t contain your allergen/s.
- Give the food a look-over to make sure it’s what you ordered.
If all has gone well, let the restaurant know and use them again. You may also like to post a rating on our Tried & Trusted review section.
General:
Most severe reactions are actually triggered by ingredients rather than cross-contamination, although busy takeaways/restaurants may not clean a wok between dishes or may not clean it well enough to avoid residual allergens remaining.
Allergens can appear in alcoholic drinks, so check with bar staff before you order anything exotic!
Watch out for peanut/nut bar snacks.
The law
Food businesses aren’t obliged by law to serve you or to sell you anything if they don’t want to, so it’s possible that they may say they’re unable to provide any safe food for you. However, if they do agree to serve you, then there are a number of different laws that they must abide by. In particularly they must tell the truth and must not mislead.
The European Union Food Information for Consumers Regulation came into force on 13 December 2014.
The main change in relation to food allergy was the new requirement for businesses to provide allergy information for foods sold without packaging. This covers foods sold loose (such as from a deli counter), in catering establishments or, sold pre-packed for direct sale (such as bread or cakes in a bakery or sandwiches from a sandwich bar). The way in which the information has to be provided is not defined and each country can provide guidance and advice to businesses on how such information could be provided.
Information on any of the 14 allergens used as ingredients will need to be provided for foods sold without packaging or wrapped on site. This information could be written down on a chalk board or chart, or provided orally by a member of staff. Where the specific allergen information is not provided upfront, clear signposting to where this information could be obtained must be provided. These rules will only cover information about major allergens intentionally used as ingredients.
Article 14 of the EC General Food Law Regulation prohibits unsafe food from being placed on the market. In determining if a food is unsafe, consideration must be given “to the information provided to the consumer, including information on the label, or other information generally available to the consumer concerning the avoidance of specific adverse health effects from a particular food or category of foods.”
Article 16 of the Regulation requires that the labelling, advertising and presentation of food, including the information made available, should not mislead consumers.
Section 14 of the Food Safety Act 1990 makes it an offence for anyone to sell to the purchaser’s prejudice, any food which is not of the nature, substance or quality demanded by the purchaser.
So if you are sold a particular dish that has been confirmed as being free of a specific allergen, and is subsequently found to contain that allergen (usually when someone has an allergic reaction to the food), then the food is not of the substance demanded by the purchaser and the business that supplied the food is breaking the law.
What if something goes wrong?
Deal with the reaction!
- Always tell someone you’re with that you think you’re having a reaction straightaway.
- Don’t go to the toilet/outside alone.
- Treat your reaction according to your emergency care plan, and dial 999/get a friend to do so.
- Tell/get one of your friends to tell a staff member that you having an allergic reaction.
- If possible ask a friend to take a sample of the food and to hold on to it. This may be the last thing on your mind if you’re having a reaction, but a sample of the food may be the only way to demonstrate that a crime has been committed. However, don’t do this at the expense of treating your reaction!
Afterwards:
- Prepare a report of the incident, starting with the decision to order the food. How did you choose your meal? If it was online, have you got the actual menu? Did you mention your allergy? To whom and when? What was said to you and by whom? How did you know what was in the meal?
- Prepare a statement of all the decisions and events which took place in order, ideally with some idea of the timings. If you have a sample of the food left, double wrap it carefully in clean plastic bags / cling film, label it and freeze it for now.
- If a friend or family member was present / involved, ask them to make a note of their own recollection of what happened. You should add a record of what exactly you ate / where and when? This should include details of symptoms in order, timings, emergency management, treatment etc.
The law
You may have two main options in law:
- Criminal legislation is enforced through local enforcement authorities, so you can report the reaction to your local council food safety or food standards (Environmental Health or Trading Standards ) team. You can find details via your local council website here .The restaurant/takeaway may have broken criminal law about selling safe food, or misdescribing it. If you have a sample of the food that caused your reaction, they may be able to take it as evidence and get it tested to see if it contained your problem allergen
- You can make a civil claim, i.e. claim some financial compensation for the injury you suffered. Sometimes it is easier to do this after a criminal local authority investigation has taken place. You may need help from a lawyer.
How it might go…
Scenario 1
Staff can’t or won’t tell you if any of the food, or any dish you ask about contains or is free from you’re problem food. Or they seem unsure.
What to do
- Don’t eat. Either encourage your friends to eat elsewhere, just have a safe drink and enjoy their company, or arrange to meet them later. Try to speak with staff before any orders are taken
Scenario 2
Your friends want to go to the local Indian for a meal. You know the risk is very high for you as you have a severe peanut and nut allergy.
What to do
- Have a couple of popular (but safer) alternatives ready to suggest (see Tried & Trusted for ideas!).
- If they insist on going, you could go with them and just have a drink (but be aware that there are likely to be meals with nuts being served and consequently the possibility of cross contamination)
- Don’t be afraid of saying you’d rather not go, but arrange to meet them later. Practice before hand what you’re going to say.
Scenario 3
You’re in a restaurant and realise you’ve forgotten to bring your emergency medication (EpiPen, Jext or Emerade) with you.
What to do
- If you don’t live too far away, go home and get it, or ask the designated driver to take you.
- Phone your parent or helpful sibling to see if they’ll drop it off for you.
- If neither of these options is possible, don’t eat anything! No injector, no food!
Scenario 4
You’ve just started on your main course and your lips start to tingle, this is usually a warning sign for you that an allergic reaction is starting.
What to do
- Stop eating.
- Get your adrenaline injector ready to use in case your symptoms get worse
- Tell your friend/s you may be having an allergic reaction and, if possible, ask one of them to get a sample of the food you’ve been eating.
- Call a member of staff, tell them you think you may be having an allergic reaction and ask them to double check that the food you’re eaten doesn’t contain your problem allergen.
- If you feel sick and need to go to the toilet or outside for some air, ask your friend to go with you. Don’t lock the toilet door.
- If your reaction starts to get worse, follow your emergency action plan.
Key messages
- If ordering remotely, always phone the restaurant in person to discuss your allergy requirements, don’t rely on notes or messages relayed online or through apps that may get missed.
- Make sure you have your medication with you, that it’s in date and that you know how to use it.
- If the risks are high on a particular occasion, it may be best not to eat anything.
- Be aware that recipes for a particular dish can vary from one restaurant to another and even in the same restaurant. A different chef may add or leave out particular ingredients. So just because you’ve eaten something on one occasion and been OK, doesn’t mean the dish is necessarily safe next time. ALWAYS check!
- Ask about the dish/es that you’d like to choose and if they’d be suitable.
- Ask about ingredients, how the food is prepared and whether cross contamination with your allergens is likely. Speak clearly, factually, politely and calmly.
- Ask the server to make a note of your allergy/ies.
- Confirm that the dish you would like to order is free from your allergen/s, derivates and from cross contamination and that it has been prepared safely.
- If you’re not confident that your request is being taken seriously, if they don’t seem to ‘get it’, if they can’t or won’t confirm that the food is free from your allergen/s, or if they won’t respond to your requests, it may be better to eat elsewhere. Tell them politely that you are unable to eat there and leave.
- Always tell someone you’re with that you think you’re reacting.
- Don’t go to the toilet/outside alone.
- Treat your reaction according to your emergency care plan and dial 999/get a friend to do so.
- If you feel at all faint or dizzy, then lie down on the floor, ideally with your knees up on a chair. Don’t stand up suddenly.If you are not faint but are wheezy, you will probably need to sit up, perhaps leaning over a table, ideally where the air is not stuffy.