FoxtrotOscar

I've said it before on here but I just don't understand why airlines put nuts in meals. I know they can't possibly avoid all allergens but nuts are typically among the most serious and it's very easy to design splendid menus without using them.

In in this case why could BA not choose a blueberry muffin rather than a pecan one, for example.

missdimeaner

The blueberry muffin would most likely be made in the same facility as the pecan ones, hence the warning on just about anything being 'not guaranteed to be nut free'.

chrisboote

I cannot agree more

As someone with a severe - potentially fatal without steroid treatment - cheese allergy, I don't risk eating because 'it looked the plainest'

I ask to see the ingredient list

This is essential as a) BA have started to use creme fraiche as the base for their horseradish sauce and b) most crew wouldn't know (or be expected to know - my allergy, my health, my problem) that creme fraiche is cheese (e.g. it contains casein)

As to requesting other passengers are not served nuts - this sounds to me an insane level of self entitlement

In the days when smoking was permitted, I didn't fly due to my tobacco allergy. It would never have occurred to me to ask other people not to smoke

Again; my allergy, my problem. I would never try to make it someone else's problem

chrisboote

Except eat an unknown item without checking the ingredients

You chose it, you didn't check, you got ill, YOUR FAULT

Having said that, I do agree that the apparent lack of concern shown by BA staff seems intolerable

chrisboote

Absolutely 100% yes in every regard!

My allergy, my responsibility

Of course, 'responsibility' seems to be a dirty word nowadays...

BAAZ

One learns something new every day! Is it just creme fraiche? Is soured cream the same? What about the cream you buy here in the UK (single cream, double cream, etc)? Or yoghurt? Genuinely interested.

chrisboote

And if I had brought, e.g. a peanut butter sandwich, or a pack of peanuts to eat, I would have said to whoever was the passenger, "I'm going to eat my food now, if your allergy is as serious as implied, perhaps you should go and stand in the galley while I do"

I've been on flights where the meal is lasagne or macaroni cheese or similar

How happy would you be if I told you that you can't eat them because of my allergy?

No, I move - I inconvenience myself, not my fellow passengers

Why should they have to accommodate my allergy?

Like I keep saying; my allergy, my problem

You DID have the most professional crew in the air, and chose to abnegate responsibility for your own safety

HAD YOU ASKED, you would have been told "I don't know, I'll get the chef's chat to check"

You chose to eat an unknown substance and suffered for it - in what possible way is that the responsibility of, or unprofessional behaviour by, the crew?

And YES, I know that I have to check every ingredient on every shop-bought product

Coleslaw, from the same company may sometimes have double cream, sometimes creme fraiche

Yoghurts sometimes contain fromage frais - and sometimes the same brand, same product doesn't

Dijon mustard sometimes uses soured cream, sometimes doesn;t

So yes, if you have an allergy, it's your responsibility to check every single time

If someone tells you "No, this has no nuts" or the ingredient list nor the packet contains a warning, that is a different issue, but to eat something without checking its contents is foolhardy at best, and fatal at worst

Absolutely

And his is how those of us with allergies protect ourselves - we take the responsibility, and don't palm it off onto a crew member

For the same reason, I assume, that they put cheese in everything (BA I'm looking at you here)

It's cheap, improves the flavour for most people, and doesn't denature at 10,000m

And peanuts ARE NOT NUTS

When people say they have a nut allergy, they are almost always actually allergic to aflatoxins, so logically should avoid maize as well

Casein is present in;

Cheese (duh!)
Cottage and Cream and Feta cheese (you'd be amazed how many people think they "aren't real cheeses"
Creme fraiche
Fromage frais (You'd think with the word 'fromage' people would guess, but ...)
Soured cream
Some yoghurts (Just enough to make the risk of eating an unknown yoghurt akin to, well, a nut allergy sufferer eating a random muffin)
LOTS of paints (Ho hum, have to let my wife do all the decorating then)
Some industrial solvents and glues

dakaix

Wow. So just to make sure I have understood this correctly, you're saying that you would put someone else's life at risk so as to eat your sandwich? And that they should "stand in the galley" while you do so?

It seems like an exceptionally selfish and inconsiderate thing to even suggest doing.

chrisboote

Yes, I would

Like I said, I have a severe allergy to an airborne allergen (tobacco smoke), so when smoking was allowed, I never used to fly - why should MY issue be made a problem for someone else?

That, to me, would be exceptionally selfish and inconsiderate

Quarky Quark

and we're off

obduro

chrisboote an unreasonably high percentage of your total post count seems likely to be spurious replies to this thread. What has angered you so much?

If BA has a policy of measures around helping those with allergies, those who make use of them can reasonably expect them to be actioned. Not sure what your personal perspective of people being selfish and unreasonable has to do with it?

Still, thanks for the allergen advice

chrisboote

I'm angered BY the OP - that someone who (like me) has a life threatening allergy chooses to blame others, impugning their professionalism, when they made the choice to eat an unknown-content item

I'm angered FOR the OP that no one on the ground seemed willing to assist a clearly ill person

I'm also angered by the various people here who seem to think BA failed in some way in this matter - they did not, the OP did

KARFA

What's with all the caps chrisboote? Is there something wrong with your keyboard?

azmojo

I don't understand why airlines, hotels, etc. who offer muffins, cookies, cakes, brownies, etc insist on putting nuts in everything. Many people can't or won't eat them if they have nuts, and NO ONE will miss the nuts if they aren't there. Why not open the offering to as many people as possible by simply eliminating the nuts!?

UKtravelbear

Only 0.6 - 1.0% of people have a pea nut allergy.

Don't deny the vast majority of people a food they like just because of a small proportion of people are affected.