A pub chain which failed to ensure that the food it sold to a child with a wheat allergy was safe for him to eat has been fined more than £26,000 following an investigation by Hertfordshire County Council Trading Standards.
When parents Lauren and James took their nine-year-old son Ralph out for a birthday meal at the Rusty Gun pub in Hitchin in August 2023, they asked the waiting staff twice whether the sausages on the children’s menu contained wheat. Staff checked with the chefs in the kitchen, and came back to reassure the family that the sausages were wheat-free.
However, Ralph started to feel unwell shortly after eating a small part of the sausage. The family left and returned home to Welwyn Garden City, where Ralph began to experience a severe allergic reaction. He developed breathing problems, parts of his body swelled up, and red hives broke out on his skin.
He was quickly taken to the local hospital where he was administered a course of steroids and given adrenaline, before being rushed by ambulance to Lister hospital in Stevenage, where he was monitored overnight.
Recalling the terrifying experience, Lauren said: “Ralph was really unwell – it’s every parent’s worst nightmare watching their child struggle to breathe, and I was thinking the worst. I was so worried about him, we all were, and I will always have a lasting memory of Ralph asking me if he was going to die that night. The terror was made worse by not knowing what he was having a reaction to. At that time, we were unaware that he had eaten wheat in the sausages, so we were trying to understand what was happening.
“Once we were in hospital and his body began to recover I felt so relieved, but we were racking our brains trying to figure out what he’d eaten. I called the Rusty Gun restaurant and explained what had happened the previous night, and asked ‘are you sure there wasn’t any wheat in those sausages?’ I was then told; ‘we made a mistake’; and can you believe it – I was offered a free meal! They were so blasé about the whole thing that I vowed to take my complaints further so that this couldn’t happen to anyone else.
“That’s when I got in touch with Hertfordshire County Council’s Trading Standards team who were amazing from the beginning. We just feel so lucky Ralph didn’t eat the whole sausage, as we could be telling a very different story right now if he had.”
Food safety failings
Upon receiving the complaint, Hertfordshire Trading Standards began their investigation, and soon determined that there was enough evidence to pursue criminal charges.
Officers found that the Rusty Gun lacked consistent and documented allergen training for all members of staff and that a clear allergen management process was not in place.
Innventure Ltd, which owns and operates pubs and restaurants nationally, including the Rusty Gun, pleaded guilty to food safety offences and at St Albans Magistrates’ Court on 6 May the company was fined £26,802.76.
Tanya Ednan-Laperouse OBE, founder of food allergy charity The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, said: “It’s upsetting and frustrating to hear that a nine-year-old boy nearly died from anaphylaxis after being served a meal containing wheat even after his mother had told the pub he had a severe allergy to it.
“Food allergies are not a choice or a preference. They are a severe, unpredictable medical condition that for some are life threatening. We would urge anyone working with food and in hospitality to take food allergies seriously so that all people can eat out safely. How many more deaths and severe allergic reactions must take place before people understand this message?”
Andrew Butler, Director for Community Safety and Regulatory Services at Hertfordshire County Council said: “When it comes to areas as important as food and allergen safety, we prioritise supporting businesses where possible to make improvements to their allergen management processes to ensure that the information they provide is clear and accurate. However, where a business is operating in an unsafe way that is putting the health and wellbeing of our residents at risk, we will investigate and prosecute offenders.
“This incident should never have happened. I’d like to extend my thanks to Ralph’s family who have been extremely courageous in telling their story. I would urge anyone that has had a similar experience to make a report to Trading Standards via the Citizen’s Advice consumer service, so that any food business not taking allergen safety seriously can be held to account.”
CTSI has published a multilingual range of resources to help businesses better understand their responsibilities around food allergens. The Food Standards Agency also recently updated its allergen guidance for businesses.
