Luxury London Hotel fined £70,000 for nut allergy breach

The Strand Palace Hotel in London’s West End has been ordered to
pay £70,000 in compensation to a customer who was admitted to
hospital after having anaphylaxis to a dessert she was served at the
hotel.

The woman, who has a nut allergy, had told staff at the restaurant
about her nut allergy yet was still served an orange mousse dessert
containing pistachios, almonds, and hazelnuts.

The Strand Palace Hotel was found guilty of food safety breaches by
Westminster magistrates’ court and ordered to pay a fine of
£50,000, with more than £15,000 in costs to Westminster Council,
who brought the prosecution, and a £5,000 compensation payment
to the customer.

The hotel said it had relied on packaging from its suppliers for
information on the ingredients in its menu.

Allergen details for a dish called ‘Orange Chocolate Bomb’ had been
used to inform customers that no nuts were in the ‘Orange Mousse
Dessert’, but investigators discovered that the two desserts were
different and one of them did contain nuts. The hotel was convicted
of three charges of food safety breaches.

The Strand Palace Hotel has said that it is disappointed with the
verdict and is taking legal action against its supplier.

The case highlights the importance of restaurants and food suppliers
taking food allergies seriously and ensuring that customers are
given accurate information about the ingredients in the foods they
serve.