Food allergy, a summary of eight cases in the UK criminal and civil courts: effective last resort for vulnerable consumers?
Food allergy has a forensic context. The authors describe eight cases in the UK courts involving fatalities, personal injury or criminal non-compliance with food law from mainly 'grey' literature sources. The potentially severe consequences for people with food allergy of contraventions of labelling law have led to enforcement action up to criminal prosecution for what might otherwise be regarded as 'trivial' non-compliance. The authors suggest there should be central collation of such cases. Non-compliances should be followed up in a more rapid and robust manner. Evidence of fraud in the catering supply chain supports recent calls for zero tolerance of food fraud. Businesses must guard against gaps in allergen management, for which there are readily available sources of training and guidance, but also against fraudulent substitution in the supply chain, about which training and guidance should be developed. New allergen labelling legislation and case law appear to place responsibility on food businesses even for the forensically problematic area of allergen cross-contamination. The courts can be an effective last resort for vulnerable consumers; however, there is evidence of knowledge and skill gaps in both the investigation and prosecution of potentially serious incidents of food allergen mismanagement and mislabelling. Thorough investigation of food allergy deaths is required with a tenacious and skilled approach, including early realisation that samples of the food and/or stomach contents from a post mortem examination should be retained and analysed. The supply chain must be rigorously examined to find out where adulteration or contamination with the fatal allergen occurred.
Allergy Action, St Albans, Herts, UK.|Anaphylaxis Campaign, Farnborough, Hants, UK.
M Hazel
MH
Gowland
Government Chemist Programme, LGC, Teddington, Middx, TW11 0LY, UK.
Michael J
MJ
Walker
D003257:Consumer Product Safety / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D005060:Europe; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity / Q000401:mortality; D019649:Food Industry / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D005515:Food Labeling / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D007881:Legislation, Food / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D006113:United Kingdom
allergen; allergic reaction; anaphylaxis; coroner; courts; criminal justice; death; fatality; food allergy; food industry; forensic; fraud; prosecution