FATC Mock Food Allergy Prosecution Trial
Derek Thompson
Derek with wife, Tina and son Mike, run www.glutenfreeireland.com which they established when Tina was diagnosed Coeliac fourteen years ago. Supported by social media and an occasional Newsletter, the website provides a platform for gluten free food producers to market products directly to the GF community across the island of Ireland. Derek has been on the Irish Free From Foods Ireland judging panel since it began four years ago and has taken part in a number of Safefood events.
Aims & Objectives
To eat or not to eat! That’s the question in every Allergy or Coeliac sufferers mind when looking to eat outside the home environment.
I travelled over to Southampton to attend the “Mock Trial” of a fictitious restaurant owner who had pleaded guilty to providing food containing Allergens to an Allergic customer.
The object of the exercise was to help food business owners realise that making Allergen mistakes can be financially expensive for a business and potentially fatal for an Allergen sufferer.
It was also to explain to the Attendees how a Sentence would be arrived at using the Court Sentencing Guidelines currently in place in England and, to a lesser extent in Northern Ireland, (I’m aware that the vast majority of offences in Ireland still have no sentencing guidelines.)
Purpose & Relevance
I attended to see if the exercise would be of benefit to food businesses on the island of Ireland and to see if it could be replicated either by the people who organised the one in Southampton or by a body such as Safefood.
Activities
This Event was:
Novel – I’ve never heard of it being done before for a Food Offence and certainly not on the island of Ireland.
Timely – Following some recent high- profile Allergy cases such as the Pret - a - Manger case every Food business should have been very interested.
Entertaining – The “legal eagles” who acted as the Prosecution, Defence, Judge and Court Officials did a remarkable job keeping the narrative going in a totally believable way despite this being a fictitious case!
Educational – It really was an education to hear the various sentencing arguments put forward as the parties tried to decide on a suitable sentence for the defendant, bearing in mind the fact that he had pleaded Guilty to the offences. It was interesting to see how the current Sentencing Guidelines in England come into play in such a case.
Well organised – the location at Blake Morgan’s Office was perfect with plenty of space for everyone and the refreshments (including Free From) were well received. A big thank you must go to the organisers, the Speakers on the day and the Sponsors (without whom some events would just not happen) and, of course, the staff at Blake Morgan, Solicitors.
Attendees - Out of curiosity I analysed the list of Attendees and was disappointed, but not surprised, to find that very few independent café or restaurant owners attended. These were people who would have learnt a lot from the event so full marks to the few who did attend.
We have the same apathy over here on the island of Ireland and, by coincidence, I was recently talking to a member of the Institute of Hospitality about the lack of Coeliac Disease knowledge in Northern Ireland. She acknowledged the problem saying “many staff in restaurants and hotels do not have enough knowledge of the issues with coeliac disease”.
Conclusions
We feel it is only a matter of time before some Allergy or Coeliac Disease sufferer on the island of Ireland is made ill, or worse, leading to a court case and a fine or custodial sentence for the person responsible.
Perhaps an event similar to this Mock Trial would help focus minds on the real consequences of Allergen mistakes.
Finally, my thanks to the Safefood Food Safety Skills Fund for funding my trip to this very useful Event.
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