On Monday the Environment Secretary and Food Minister
held a productive
roundtable meeting with allergy groups, specialists and
industry stakeholders to discuss options for the
introduction of revised allergen labelling laws.
Attendees included Allergy UK,
the British Retail
Consortium, the British Sandwich and
Food to Go Association as well as academics
and clinicians.
In a separate meeting with Pret executives today, the
Secretary of State challenged them on their previous
shortcomings and the action they are now taking to keep
consumers safe.
Moves to review allergen labelling follow the tragic
death of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, the teenager who died
after suffering an allergic reaction to a Pret
baguette. Last month the Secretary of
State met Natasha’s parents to discuss their
campaign to ensure consumers are given more information
about allergens in the food they purchase.
Environment Secretary said:
Natasha’s parents have suffered a terrible loss and I
am committed to doing everything we can to avoid
similar tragedies in future.
Our review of allergen labelling rules is progressing
well and we are on track to bring forward proposals
to change the law around the turn of the year. This
week I heard the views of a number of organisations
and individuals with knowledge in this area and today
I challenged Pret A Manger on their past record and
future plans.
As we have made clear before, businesses do not need
to wait for the law to change to do the right thing.
They should be doing all they can now to make sure
consumers have the information they need to stay
safe.
Separately, the Secretary of State has responded to the
Coroner’s report into Natasha’s death addressing the
issues relating to Defra.
Full attendance list for Monday’s Allergen Labelling
Roundtable:
- Allergy Action
- Anaphylaxis Campaign
- Coeliac UK
- British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology
- Graham Roberts, University of Southampton
- Allergy UK
- British Retail Consortium
- British Sandwich & Food to Go Association
- Food and Drink Federation
- UK Hospitality
