Byron burger death: Petition to change allergen law reaches parliament

A petition calling for a change in the law to require restaurants to display all information about allergens on menus is to be debated in parliament after receiving almost 13,000 signatures.

The petition was launched by the family of Owen Carey, who had a dairy allergy and suffered a fatal reaction to a Byron chicken burger on 22 April 2017.

At the time of the inquest in September 2019, Carey’s family had said: “We want restaurants to have to display clear allergen information on each individual dish on their menus. The food industry should put the safety of their customers first.

“It is simply not good enough to have a policy which relies on verbal communication between the customer and their server, which often takes places in a busy, noisy restaurant where the turnover of staff is high and many of their customers are very young.”

The petition for Owen’s Law is calling for the law to be changed to require restaurants to put all information about allergens in their food on the face of the main menu.

It also demands that servers ask customers about allergies on all occasions and is calling for the creation of a national register for anaphylaxis deaths.

Parliament will debate the petition on 15 May, as it has exceeded the threshold of 10,000 signatures.

It comes after Natasha’s Law came into force in October 2021, which requires all pre-packed food to display full ingredient and allergen labelling in the UK.

This was introduced after the death of 15-year-old Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, who suffered an allergic reaction to a Pret A Manger baguette containing sesame.

To view the petition, click here.

*Image: James Copeland / Shutterstock *