Nothing infuriates me more than having to deal with restaurants and other places that sell food. My daughter has food allergies. That means I HAVE to read labels for her. I hate when I ask for the ingredients and tell them I need to know BECAUSE my daughter is allergic to X,Y, and Z, and they tell me that they don’t have the ingredients. What the hell? How can you NOT have the ingredients?
The standard comment I get is “oh well we buy them in a big box and we throw the box out”. So then I am left with the choice of either ordering her something and hoping it is ok or leaving the restaurant. Of course we don’t take chances. So we leave or order her a grilled chicken breast that she hates, because shoot…what 2 year old wants to eat a grilled chicken breast? Not Bella.
So yesterday after being told they threw out the box, I got mad. I came home, got the email address of my House of Representatives dude and emailed him and told him that things need to change. I will email, call, send letters, do whatever I need to do to get this to change. I don’t care if you are a fancy restaurant or a carnival food seller, you SHOULD have ingredients for everything you sell, food wise and make that accessible to any and everyone that needs to see it. If you don’t then their should be some sort of penalty.
Things need to change. More and more people are being diagnosed with food allergies. They shouldn’t have to eat only in their house. They are entitled to eat at a restaurant too…and do it safely.
So in your face restaurants that don’t care or even think about people who have food allergies. You have pissed me off for the last time. I am now, going to do whatever it takes to change this.
My family and I are participating in the Food Allergy Walk for a Cure this October. If you would like to see my page and donate to help me reach my goal, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks so much.
http://www.foodallergywalk.org/goto/leahkanaan
I TOTALLY agree, my husband has an anaphalactic (sp?!) food allergy and it makes me nervous to go out to eat. Plus, my daughters haven't been exposed to the allergen and I don't want to run into a problem. I really hope things get better, because I think it's totally ridiculous!
I have a daughter (almost 2) with food allergies as well and I live in Canada and have the same issues. Most times the restaurants here are pretty good but sometimes they're not. It's very hard to put my trust in the wait staff – I'd rather speak directly with a manager. Those restaurants who are really good about paying attention to my requests and offer my daughter alternatives (for example, if her big brother gets an ice cream dessert with his meal, she will get a fruit plate made to look just as fun) definitely get my loyalty.
You would think with all the restaurants that supply nutrition information now that they would include ingredients. How hard is it to add the list when they've already got calories, fat, sodium, etc. listed?
I wish I could remember what it was I bought, but I just recently read a label that even said it was manufactured in a place that uses sulfites. I was impressed. I know eating and drinking sulfites gives me migraines, but I wasn't sure if simply having something exposed to them would as well.
Wow, I can't believe they don't know the ingredients!