New EU legislation makes eating out easier for people with food allergies, intolerances and coeliac disease. So why isn’t everyone supporting it?
Arise, allergenic Brits! Grab your forks, coeliacs! New EU legislation means it is now easier for the millions of Brits with allergies, food intolerances and coeliac disease to eat out. The new rules, introduced this weekend, mean that restaurants and other catering outlets must provide information on which of the 14 major allergens – including gluten, milk, peanuts, eggs and shellfish – are in each of their dishes.
Good news, surely? Eating out shouldn’t be a privilege for the digestively fortunate. I have lactose intolerance, which puts me at the lucky end of the scale. If I accidentally eat steak fried in butter, say (after the waiter swears it won’t be), I’ll get painful stomach cramps. For coeliacs and people with allergies, the stakes are much higher. Even a speck of gluten can leave a coeliac in pain for days. For food allergy sufferers, inadvertently eating these ingredients can mean a trip to A&E. Ten Brits die every year from anaphylaxis caused by food.
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