Food poisoning/allergic reaction - advice please
 

Hi all

I would like to ask for an opinion on what I should next.

First incident, the meal for that flight was breakfast. Bit into the croissant and thought it tasted strange. Pulled apart the croissant and there was a orange/brown paste inside which should not have been in a plain croissant. Showed the FA's and the ISM and they promised to have the food analysed. Then my throat started to swell - still don't know why. I complained to MPC, and after a bit of back & forth, received some (insufficient) compensation. Within the numerous emails, MPC confirmed that the croissant and foreign substance were not preserved for analysis, but the catering company said it might have been tomato concasse which was made before the batch of croissants. Seems as though they do not clean their machines in between different batches of food.

Second incident occurred a couple of months and many more CX/KA flights later. Again, it was a morning flight and I had a croissant - which I cut open to check if there was anything inside. It seemed ok, so I started eating, and after a bite of the croissant and a bite of the gammon and eggs, I had another allergic reaction.

I do not have any allergies to these items - previously or currently.

After complaining to MPC and highlighting that this was the second time, they sent me a list of ingredients used and basically said "case closed". I asked for the name of the catering company and a contact person, in order to supply the details to the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department.

So, should I file a formal complaint with the FEHD?

thanks!

dem croissants must be guuud.

Never say never....

It could be that you are having an allergic reaction to one of the ingredients that CX uses.. which one is debatable unless you grab another croissant next time and test it at a lab yourself.

For example, I have no allergy to tofu but I simply cannot eat tofu processed in Hong Kong. Everytime I have tofu in Hong Kong, bam.. I have to rush to the loo (sorry for the gross expression). But tofu in Taiwan, Thailand.. no problem.

Could be you are showing signs of a light wheat intolerance...

Thanks Guy. Unfortunately for my diet/waistline, a coffee and croissant (or two) are my daily breakfast when travelling for work. Which is about 70% of the time. No reactions to croissants, bread or bagels.

didnt mean to be intrusive, but if health were an issue, id suggest having bread instead of pastries due to the amount of butter used!

As Guy Betsy said, just because you are not aware of an allergy that does not mean that you do not have one.
In your second example, there is zero evidence provided that the croissant was anything to do with your ill feeling. I don't see it as anything to do with Cathay.

I strongly suggest that you do a detailed allergy test.
With age, some allergies become more pronounced or revealed.

If it were only the first reaction, one could possibly argue that it was some tainted food. But the second reaction clearly demonstrates that you have some allergy that needs to be detected. Start from the list of ingredients given by CX. While you focus on the croissant (coz first incident) it could be some other part of the breakfast. it could even be psychosomatic because of your anxiousness over the first incident.

There are millions of CX croissants eaten every years without complains and the fact that you had twice a violent allergic reaction shows that you are the "cause" of the problem. And I get my sources from an allergy MD.

Agree with the above.

I do work in the medical field. I think your strongest case would be to have yourself tested for allergy to each of the individual ingredients listed down by CX's catering company - both the usual croissant ingredients and the contaminant (e.g., tomato concasse).

No. In fact, OP should drop the whole case.

CX is not at fault when you have a hidden health issue and CX was not aware of that in advance.

Also, FEHD's focus is on food safety. As soon as the foreign ingredients do not affect health (like a piece of chicken appearing in something made in beef), FEHD won't do anything.

I'd say if the croissant is problematic, it's unlikely that in each of those flight only ONE of them is problematic out of so many croissants baked by CPCS and LSG (since you mentioned both CX and KA) and you're so lucky that you get them EVERY TIME...

Actually I want to ask more:

1. Is it only on flights departing HKG or no matter where it departs you have this problem?

2. Have you tried on any single CX / KA flight that dropped the croissant and do you have any allergic syndromes?

3. Have you tried a croissant on other airlines leaving HKG where they use CPCS or LSG as cater?

Just want to help you to identify the real cause of your problem... The last thing I want to see from the news is one day a flight needs to do emergency landing because a passenger gets serious allergic reaction up in the sky...

Is anyone on Earth allergic to tomatoes?

never say never but how is tomatoes used in croisants

Probably. Some people have rare and odd allergies.

I, for example, am allergic to flax, cloves, cinnamon, and star anise (along with 60+ other things). I know of very very few people who have those allergies.

As said already, you should have an allergy test. If the only common indicator is a CX croissant you must have an allergy to something in it. Airline food is often loaded up with the flavour enhancing ingredients to counteract the lack of taste at altitude, so perhaps an unnoticeable wheat or milk allergy on the ground flares up on aircraft.

I get they may have garnished the croissant with something like a tomato paste or sauce but what's in a tomato that people are allergic to?

I remember growing up in the 60's and 70's and nobody was allergic to anything (like peanuts) but two generations later people are allergic to tomatoes?