Does anyone know if there are legal implications of a restaurant stating a dish as gluten free when it may not be?
I recently eat in Giraffe and obviously chose a GF option from the menu. However I did get ill immediately after eating it and when I wrote to the restaurant to complain the main thrust of their reply was thus
'We will always try to cook and prepare food in separate areas, pans and fryers where possible and will always aim to avoid any contamination. However, I hope you can appreciate that we can't 100% guarantee this in a restaurant environment.'
Which makes the whole labelling/checking exercise pointless doesn't it?
Indeed John B. We have written and complained to Giraffe as well as they clearly label up their menu as GF although they cook their chips in the same oil as other gluten items. When we explained this to the mgr they said 'what's the problem are you THAT sensitive? And we get a lot of 'gluten free' people in here and they are always fine. The heat of the oil kills the gluten'. After dragging my jaw from the floor and resisting saying what I'd like to I gave him a 101 on what gluten is AND why they can't label their menu as such.
In terms of legally you are well within your rights to complain to both trading standards and Environmental Health (see your council website) where you ate. I have found this very effective. Environmental health will visit venues and follow up your complaint and train them in what they need to do & how they can label things under the new EU law on gluten food labelling. They also conduct test shopping and have told me that many test samples of GF foods are returning with results which state they aren't GF at all!
All in all we all need to make our voices heard when companies are either ignorant or down right blase about dietary requirements.
The law states they cannot label something gluten free if it isn't less than 20ppm of gluten under the new EU law. Obviously no company can ever guarantee 100% that an item is GF - yet I'm sure like me or you're looking for is effort to ensure the food is GF and that they take proper measures to avoid cross contamination. Sure mistakes happen yet to blatantly just use the 'we can't ensure anything is a 100% GF' is poor and does not follow the spirit or letter of the new law.
I'd also add to vote with your feet. I for one never ever eat at Giraffe due to my personal experience nor do I ever recommend it to others due to my poor experience. Instead I prefer to vote with my feet and stay loyal to companies like Zizzi, Nandos, Cote Brasserie and the great local restaurants that do make an effort to stay GF.
Plus as much as we all hate doing it I never ever eat anywhere without speaking to the manager and grilling them about my food, production, utensils etc. My friends glaze over - but at least then I feel I've done all within my power to be a 'good coeliac' and the responsibility is then on the restaurant to do their bit. If they're in doubt - I walk out. Painful but necessary. Often I find I'm educating Mgrs as I go and they're pleased to help. So it does pay off.
Do let us know how you get on. Complain!
See: food.gov.uk/enforcement/enf...
tradingstandards.gov.uk/adv...
europa.eu/legislation_summa...