Takeaways ‘game of life and death’ for allergy sufferers

TAKEAWAYS are “playing fast and loose” with people’s lives, an MP has warned, after an investigation found they were providing incorrect allergy information.

Several restaurants listed on the popular website Just Eat were found to be selling food containing ingredients that could trigger a potentially fatal reaction, while insisting to reporters posing as customers with allergies that it was safe to eat. Others were unable to provide basic allergen information, BBC Panorama found.

Jon Cruddas, the Labour MP and chairman of the All-party Parliamentary Group for Allergy, said that despite sporadic calls for a change to the law, little action had been taken.

He said: “Some of these takeaway food outlets are notoriously dangerous. We find that everyone reacts to the appalling tragedies that take place and then it goes quiet. But we are determined to keep the pressure up. This is a matter of extreme urgency. It’s life and death stuff. These people are playing fast and loose with people’s lives.”

He said a major report would be published later this year making the case for legislative change.

The Panorama investigation found evidence of multiple takeaways providing false and potentially life threatening allergen information.

Tong Feng House, in Greater Manchester, assured an undercover reporter that its chicken chow mein did not contain wheat, yet it was found to have a high wheat content. And Mama Mia Pizza, in Birmingham, sold a burger that it said did not contain wheat, yet it was found to contain gluten.

Just Eat, the biggest online food delivery app in the UK, does not require restaurants to provide allergen information on its app or website. The company told Panorama it was “concerned to learn about individual restaurants not providing accurate information”.