"Take allergies seriously or face jail"

Food businesses have been warned by the Crown Prosecution Service to take allergies seriously or face jail, after an Indian restaurant owner was imprisoned for six years for killing a customer by selling him a curry containing peanuts. This follows his conviction for manslaughter after a 38 year old customer suffered a fatal anaphylactic shock after eating the peanuts in his takeaway curry.

The customer, who was meticulous about his condition, had asked for a chicken tikka masala with "no nuts" but his curry from the Indian Garden, Easingwold, was cooked with a groundnut mix containing peanuts.

Martin Goldman, chief crown prosecutor with CPS Yorkshire and Humberside, is reported to have commented: “If you ignore your responsibilities and regulations and put lives at real risk then we will not hesitate to prosecute.”

A jury at Teesside Crown Court heard how Mr Zaman, who had run up £294,000 debts in his various restaurants in York and North Yorkshire, was cutting costs by using cheaper ingredients and employing untrained, illegal workers.

The court heard that less than a month before Mr Wilson’s death in January 2014, another nut allergy sufferer was hospitalised after eating a chicken korma from another his restaurants. Although she had been told the dish did not contain peanuts, she suffered an allergic reaction and had to be injected with adrenaline by doctors.

It would also seem that the owner had received ‘numerous warnings’ that he was risking his customers’ health but apparently ignored them.

The facts of this case pre-date the introduction of allergen notification requirements in December 2014, significantly increasing allergen responsibility on operators – see our article 'Allergen alert! An important reminder and update'.