Allergy sufferers demand colour coded plates at restaurants
Restaurant owners are resisting calls to use colour-coded plates for allergy suffers to prevent customers from being accidentally served food that could be fatal.
The Senate is conducting an inquiry into the causes, impacts and costs of anaphylaxis, including the adequacy of food safety processes.
Restaurant and Catering Industry Association chief executive Wes Lambert described the idea as "absolute madness".
"Colour-coded plates would mean that if someone ordered an allergy-free item and the restaurant had run out of the coloured plate, they wouldn't be able to serve the item," Lambert told Fairfax.
Allergy and Anaphylaxis Australia chief executive Maria Said said there were other options to differentiate meals made to satisfy dietary requirements, including allergen cards printed by diners to pass on to the chef which would then return with their meal.
Other options included dedicated food safety advisers at every foodservice venue and increased training for hospitality staff.
"Anyone with a food allergy, you should be taking their plate out to the customer and confirming, on its own – not with other plates," Said told Fairfax.
Sheridan Randall, 11th November 2019
