IN MY VIEW... SADLY SOME ALLERGIES MEAN ONLY EATING HOME-COOKED

IN MY opinion, anyone with a known severe allergy cannot take the risk of eating manufactured foods. There are too many pitfalls and too many unknowns — as the tragic story of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, who died after suffering an allergic reaction to a Pret A Manger sandwich, has shockingly demonstrated.

The teenager died in 2016 after eating the sandwich which, unbeknown to her, contained sesame, to which she was allergic.

And then, last weekend, we read of another lethal episode, in which a woman died after eating what was purportedly a vegan sandwich, but which was contaminated with milk protein in the dairy-free yoghurt it contained.

As doctors, we have a touching confidence that an injection of adrenaline will stop an anaphylactic reaction. However, in Natasha’s instance, two injections of adrenaline failed to halt hers. A successful recovery is, sadly, not always the case. I have been no stranger to such events: the dietitian attached to my practice developed allergies to some fish, strawberries and melon in adult life and long after her training. I have never known her go anywhere without an adrenaline self-injector.

Both she and I have been involved in the emergency management of patients in the throes of near-catastrophic food allergy.

The bitter lesson we must learn from these sad stories is that food allergy can, in rare cases, be such a severe vulnerability that the consumption of any manufactured foods cannot be trusted, irrespective of legislation, of good care by providers, of detailed labelling, or thoughtful deliberation by the purchaser.

Yes, it is a great restriction for the individual at risk, damaging to their quality of life and erosive of many freedoms — but someone with a severe allergy can only truly trust foods made from ingredients where they know the provenance.

That is the only true and safe protection.