kspeed88

Hi all,

I'm travelling with BA to HKG in First in December. The menu has just come online to pre-order, but I have a slightly unusual allergy to tomatoes. As it is slightly unusual, it is not a common allergen listed on the menu. I called YouFirst this morning to ask if they could further advise on the menu and the ingredients list, but they said as it's done by an outside caterer they can't advise any further and suggested I pre-book a meal that I don't think will have any tomato in. Well, duh...

Apart from telling the crew when I get on-board, and hoping they will have a full ingredients list and will be able to give me a meal without tomatoes - is there anything else I can do?

The menu is as follows (Obviously the turbot and the parmigiana are not going to work out for me, but the other two aren't obvious):

johnaalex

The crew will have all the details to help you.

madfish

I feel your pain.

TWCLAM

If it's an allergy then they have an obligation to provide you with the required information. Given tragic events on a BA flight in recent history you'd think they'd know this and what to do. ( It was nothing to do with them food wise but the circumstances would make you hope they'd be ahead of the curve).

Call them back and tell them that as they will be serving the food then they need to ensure that no meal contains any allergen which could affect your health. When they say what they did when you initially called correct them and instruct them to contact the caterers to get proper and full advice along with a gentle reminder of the consequences of someone going into, eg, anaphylactic shock 1000 miles over the atlantic( it's dine on demand so this is a perfectly reasonable outcome).

Whilst they don't produce the meals they will be placing them in front of you so would have culpability for any outcome. There's no doubt that the crew would be trained well in such things but as you've said yourself it's a more unusual allergy and it's reasonable to say that they might not know about yours or how to deal with it.

Bit of a poor show cop out on their behalf imho.

shefgab

Traces of tomato will not be identified, but otherwise you will be able to get the actual ingredients onboard. In First most elements of the meals are packed separately so even if they're present on the menu, you can ask for them not to be plated.

Can I help you

We will not know if there is any tomato’s in a dish, it is not one of the 10 common allergens listed on our chefs chats.

S_W_S

If you email YouFirst at the start of December they should be able to send you a full PDF menu (though it won't have the same detail as onboard).

flatlander

Tomato isn't one of the 14 most common allergens that have to be tracked and declared in commercial catering so if you've got an immediately-serious problem with it, you may be out of luck with any airline food.

If you've only got a problem with larger quantities or if you can detect it yourself (by taste or similar), you could take a guess and taste your food carefully.

At a guess, things like the usual steak would only have tomato as an obvious garnish or in a sauce and you can ask for it without sauce. The same applies to the fry-up breakfast.

The last recipe I saw for Shanghai pork didn't have tomato in it either.

GeezerCouple

I have a similar situation with an unusual allergy to a rather specific food item, and as with yours, it's not something where there is an "X-free" menu choice. However, if I selected something like a fruit plate, I'd be fine.

When I arrive on board, I promptly notify the flight attendants of this allergy, and ask if they could take a look (or let me look, even better) at each selection to see if X is there. With some dishes, I can quickly tell, but with others, including some sauces that are already poured over the rest of the dish, I might not be sure..

I point out that this way, IF there is something suitable, then we can ID it, and they can set one aside so they don't run out before they get to me. We do this no matter which class of service, including F (and F on BA).

The other thing we do is always get two different meals to the extent there is a choice so that IF it turns out X is there after all, maybe DH's meal will be better and we can swap.

Well, we used to do this. Less than a year ago, DH was suddenly diagnosed with serious celiac disease, so now he is on a very strict Gluten Free diet, which means that he probably can no longer "eat my meal". We are still adjusting to all of this, especially for him now. Tricky... (But at least Gluten Free is very frequently available, and with better choices, than many years ago. Even in Italy, there was lots of "gluten free pasta". Who knew!? )

And... we ALWAYS travel with snacks that would be sufficient to get us through the flight in a worst-food situation.

Also, although my reaction can be serious, it is *not* of the anaphylactic shock type, so it's not an immediate life/death situation, fortunately.

GC

redflyer24

As CIHY says BA will not have the info immediately to hand and crew will not have this info on board as its not one of the 10 "recognized" allergens. BA could ask caterers for menu contents if its a severe allergy as the caterers definitely have full ingredients lists... They are unlikely to field blanket requests for "what has (insert ingredient here) in it" however as the volume of these requests would be ridiculous.

My advice, go back to them again, pick one or two dishes you like the sound of form the menu and ask specifically if they can make a request to the caterer if either of the dishes contain tomatoes and you might get a better response.

Good luck!

hsmall

Unusual allergies are very annoying. My husband is allergic to mushrooms and although we always found the crew (and the chefs' chats) very helpful it can be stress inducing.

RB211

This. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail!

rb211.

carrotjuice

The Shanghainese pork belly is unlikely to contain tomatoes, as the main flavour ingredient is five spice powder.

Likewise any pasta with cream, unless it clearly says creamy tomato.

But yes do call and have BA escalate with their caterer.

P.S. A family member has an allergy too and I find it thoughtless that a company that can potentially experience an allergic reaction on its premises (planes or restaurants) which would be a lot more hassle (and potentially, liability) to deal with lacks foresight and is willing to hide behind a shield of ignorance that “something was prepared by a vendor, so we don’t know” - so go find out dammit!

xPositor

I can't believe any mass catering operation producing the number of (if we're frank) ready meals that airline caterers do can guarantee meals to be free of cross-contamination. I think its been said before, but I'll say it again - as per GeezerCouple if you're concerned about your own allergy / intolerance, then bring your own food.

gingerlucy

I wouldn't be sure about the pasta in this case as agnolotti are small stuffed parcels which can be done with a variety of meat/cheese/veg fillings and it isn't completely out of the question that the filling could contain tomatoes - I don't think it's traditional but I have found recipes which do use it. I would be particularly concerned for airline catering where, not wishing to cast aspersions, I expect cost is a key driver and tomatoes are a fairly cheap ingredient. I agree with you that the cream sauce element should be safe.