food sellers

[Johanna]

Hi.

I'm new here, although have lived with my son's dairy and egg allergies for seven years, so the stuff I don't know isn't worth knowing!!!

I was glad when the law changed an allergens had to be shown on packaging. However, it never ceases to amaze me that food sellers often have no idea of what they are selling - I don't mean the manufacturers, more people who run food outlets - pubs, restaurants, cafes.

I work in financial sales, and I know my products inside out. If you went to buy anything else you would expect the sales person to know what they are selling, but this does not seem to be the case in the catering industry.

When you ask them, ohh, the blank looks, the "I don't knows"....I'm brazen and ask to see packaging, speak to the chef...and my son won't put anything in his mouth unless he's sure that he knows it's safe.

Surely this should be tackled legally now?

[Copper]

It would be nice if that happened. Speaking to chefs is usually ok but some of the "waiting staff" have no idea about food at all.

[ultraviolet_angel]

I went to a restaurant afew weeks ago and managed to choose a dairy free starter and main but when i came to the desert i was stuck, so i asked the waitress if there was a dairy free option and she offered me a fruit salad - Which im now used to having everywhere, and then said to me " or we could do you a cheese plate"....erm what is cheese made of???? haha!

[zoefruitcake]

what gets me is how many people think that eggs are dairy. I usually ask them what part of a cow the egg comes from ;)

I've had fruit salad for starter and pudding before, I bet many of us have. Some places are not big on the imagination :p

[Johanna]

I usually see if there's a melon starter and ask for melon for pudding for my son. Sometimes they've looked at me blankly, or said "a starter? for pudding?" Lol. Usually they're ok though and will give him loads of fruit.

In Croma in Manchester I was told there was no fruit for pudding, but we saw sharon fruit being served as a garnish, so I asked for handful of these for him! I find I have to be brazen - I'm bolder than my husband, but it's only by challenging establishments that we may get them to offer more than ice cream/sponge puddings/cakes for dessert.

Sometimes if we're not going far I take my son's swedish glace soya ice cream with us and ask them to put it in the freezer.

I told a pizzeria about his dairy allergy, and we were watching the chef make the pizzas...he cut the cheesy ones then was about to use the same pizza cutter on my son's cheese free one!!!! I think my yell of "NO!" reached decibels of epic proportions :p. Agh!

[wala]

Talking of swedish glace - I went to a restaurant in Wales in the summer and they had Swedish glace on their menu - it was about £5 for a portion ! More places need to stock this !

[jill]

That would be a good idea but not at that price. I bet they don't give out a full tub either. What is it less than £3.00 a tub?

[Helen01]

You can buy catering size tubs that work out even cheaper!

[Dianne]

I keep looking for dairy free ice cream and i can never find any.. where am I going wrong ive tried all the big supermarkets

re eggs - I too am amazed by how many people think eggs are dairy... even in resturants.

[Lou C]

Swedish Glace is soya based, it's in a black hexagonal tub, I've bought it in Tesco, Sainsburys and Asda, but it depends on the size of the store. They also have cornetto type ice creams, I've only seen these in Sainsburys.

I've seen somewhere in a recent thread that M&S do dairy free ice cream and magnum type lollies aswell.

[jill]

Holland & Barrett also sell Swedish Glace Icecream.

Does anyone know whether they have started manufacturing the Swedish Glace Soft Cheese again. Sure it much be a couple fof years since it went out of production.

[Dianne]

I found some in Tescos :p thanks its easier to look when you know what its called

[Helen01]

We stock the whole range - we don't have any lollies in stock at the moment due to the weather but if you want them give us about a week's notice and we can get them at any time!:)