This week Innventure Ltd, owners of a chain of pubs, restaurants and Inns across the country, were fined £26,802.76 at St Albans Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to food safety offences following an investigation by Hertfordshire County Council's Trading Standards team.

In August 2023, Lauren and James from Welwyn Garden City went out for a birthday meal at The Rusty Gun pub (owned and run by Innventure Ltd) in Hitchin with their sons, including then nine-year-old Ralph. What should have been a celebration quickly turned into a nightmare for the family.

Ralph has a wheat allergy, so on two occasions Lauren asked the waiting staff, who then eventually checked with the chefs in the kitchen if the sausages on the children's menu contained wheat. She was reassured that they did not.

After eating a quarter of the sausage, which the family were reassured was safe for their son to eat, Ralph began to feel unwell. The family left shortly after and when they got home it became clear that Ralph was having a severe allergic reaction with parts of his body swelling, problems breathing and red hives all over him. After a course of steroids and some adrenaline at the local hospital, he was rushed to Lister hospital by ambulance where he was monitored overnight.

Lauren recalled the terrifying experience they had, she said: "Ralph was really unwell – it's every parent's worst nightmare watching their child struggle to breathe, and I was thinking the worst. I was so worried about him, we all were, and I will always have a lasting memory of Ralph asking me if he was going to die that night. The terror was made worse by not knowing what he was having a reaction to. At that time, we were unaware that he had eaten wheat in the sausages, so we were trying to understand what was happening.

"Once we were in hospital and his body began to recover I felt so relieved, but we were racking our brains trying to figure out what he'd eaten. I called the Rusty Gun restaurant and explained what had happened the previous night, and asked 'are you sure there wasn't any wheat in those sausages?' I was then told; 'we made a mistake'; and can you believe it - I was offered a free meal! They were so blasé about the whole thing that I vowed to take my complaints further so that this couldn't happen to anyone else. That's when I got in touch with Hertfordshire County Council's Trading Standards team who were amazing from the beginning. We just feel so lucky Ralph didn't eat the whole sausage, as we could be telling a very different story right now if he had."

After receiving Lauren and James' complaint, Trading Standards officers began an investigation and took detailed accounts from both the family and the restaurant. The team determined that there was enough evidence to pursue criminal charges. Their investigation found that the Rusty Gun (owned by Innventure Ltd) lacked consistent and documented allergen training for all members of staff and that a clear allergen management process on which all members of staff should have been trained, was not in place.

Tanya Ednan-Laperouse OBE, founder of The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, the UK's food allergy charity, said: "It's upsetting and frustrating to hear that a nine-year-old boy nearly died from anaphylaxis after being served a meal containing wheat even after his mother had told the pub he had a severe allergy to it. Food allergies are not a choice or a preference. They are a severe, unpredictable medical condition that for some are life threatening. We would urge anyone working with food and in hospitality to take food allergies seriously so that all people can eat out safely. How many more deaths and severe allergic reactions must take place before people understand this message?"

Andrew Butler, Director for Community Safety and Regulatory Services at Hertfordshire County Council said: "When it comes to areas as important as food and allergen safety, we prioritise supporting businesses where possible to make improvements to their allergen management processes to ensure that the information they provide is clear and accurate. However, where a business is operating in an unsafe way that is putting the health and wellbeing of our residents at risk, we will investigate and prosecute offenders.

"This incident should never have happened. I'd like to extend my thanks to Ralph's family who have been extremely courageous in telling their story. I would urge anyone that has had a similar experience to make a report to Trading Standards via the Citizen's Advice consumer service, so that any food business not taking allergen safety seriously can be held to account."

Hertfordshire Trading Standards team can work with local businesses to help them review their training and processes – to speak to them please contact the team by e-mailing: [email protected]

If you have a complaint about food safety please refer in the first instance to Citizen's Advice on 0808 223 1133

If you want to find out more about the work Trading Standards do visit: Business | Hertfordshire County Council