fatal
allergies and eating out
was just a year old. His young son had to be
admitted to hospital as a toddler when he had
an allergic reaction to a particular ingredient,
which at the time could not be isolated. This
caused the family to undergo a huge overhaul
in their lives, removing all traces of food which
might trigger a reaction.
What changes have you made in your
everyday life to make sure your son can eat
healthily and safely?
M.A.: You have to be prepared to read
and understand ingredients on products,
as sometimes a different jargon is used
in labelling. We had to eliminate certain
products produced in Malta unfortunately,
since the labelling on these products is not
always thorough, and thus not always safe.
We have had to be more careful about crosscontamination of kitchen utensils and pots and
pans, making sure to clean everything well
before reusing it to prepare something else. It
is important to read and to be informed about
the issue as much as possible and to handpick restaurants before eating out. Travelling
has become complicated; however we usually
opt for self-catering apartments when going
abroad, so that we are 100% safe in regards
to food, which we prepare ourselves.
What might help to increase awareness about
food allergies and their serious consequences
especially in Malta?
M.A.: Awareness is increasing from when
my son was first diagnosed with his allergy,
almost 5 years ago. Many restaurants now
write on their menus that allergy sufferers
need to speak to the waiter or the chef;
however they are often not willing to take
the risk and advertise themselves as ‘allergyfriendly’ as it then puts a lot of responsibility
on the restaurateurs, who would obviously
not want to be held accountable should
someone have an allergic reaction. I myself
have spoken with various hotel and restaurant
managers regarding this issue, as, if viewed
in the long-run, catering for allergy sufferers
benefits their business rather than hinders it.
If, for example, there is a family of 5 persons,
including a person suffering from an allergy,
who cannot eat at a particular restaurant
because it does not cater for allergy sufferers,
then this restaurant would have lost a
potential table of 5 clients.
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