The family of Owen Carey, a teenager with a dairy allergy who died after he unwittingly ate buttermilk in a burger restaurant have called for a change in the law in the United Kingdom.
YaahooJournalist understands that Carey ordered grilled chicken at Byron burger at the O2 Arena in London while celebrating his 18th birthday.
Late Carey told the staff about his allergy but was not told the meal included buttermilk, a report by BBC noted.
After a coroner ruled he was not told about allergens that led to his death, Carey’s family said the current policy left too much room for error.
Speaking outside Southwark Coroner’s Court, late Carey’s sister, Emma Kocher, said her brother’s death should not have happened.
Carey’s sister said the family wanted something good to come out of their loss and were calling on the government to change the law.
“It’s simply not good enough to have a policy which relies on verbal communication between the customer and their server, which often takes place in a busy, noisy restaurant where the turnover of staff is high and many of their customers are very young,” she said.
“This leaves far too much room for error on an issue we know far too well can cost lives. We hope we can bring about change with Owen’s Law for better allergen labelling in restaurants.”
Carey’s mother Moira paid tribute to her son, who she said played three instruments, filled the house with noise, and was “always smiling and wanted to get the most out of life”.
According to herm “hundreds of thousands” of allergy sufferers were scared to eat out in restaurants because that was “the key place where they are at risk”.
On the other hand, his father Paul simply described his son as “an excellent chap, a beautiful boy and a great mate”.
