Luxury London hotel fined £70,000 for nut allergy breach

The Strand Palace Hotel in London’s West End has been ordered to pay £70,000 in compensation to a customer who was admitted to hospital after having anaphylaxis to a dessert she was served at the hotel.

The woman, who has a nut allergy, had told staff at the restaurant about her nut allergy yet was still served an orange mousse dessert containing pistachios, almonds, and hazelnuts.

The Strand Palace Hotel was found guilty of food safety breaches by Westminster magistrates’ court and ordered to pay a fine of £50,000, with more than £15,000 in costs to Westminster council, who brought the prosecution, and a £5,000 compensation payment to the customer.

The hotel said it had relied on packaging from its suppliers for information on the ingredients in its menu. Allergen details for a dish called ‘Orange Chocolate Bomb’ had been used to inform customers that no nuts were in the ‘Orange Mousse Dessert’, but investigators discovered that the two desserts were different and one of them did contain nuts. The hotel was convicted of three charges of food safety breaches.

The Strand Palace Hotel has said that it is disappointed with the verdict and is taking legal action against its supplier.

The case highlights the importance of restaurants and food suppliers taking food allergies seriously and ensuring that customers are given accurate information about the ingredients in the foods they serve.

For more information about food allergen information regulations and help for food businesses see our Anaphylaxis UK Business pages.