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Apr
13

Gluten Free Raleigh Petitions City of Raleigh

Zach over at Gluten Free Raleigh is seeking some help with food safety in Raleigh. Apparently the NYC City Council passed a law which requires restaurants to display a food allergy education poster. According to the NYC’s website,

There are eight foods which represent 90 percent of all food allergic reactions.  These foods, commonly referred to as the “Big Eight,” include milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat and soybeans, many of which are also common ingredients in different types of prepared and processed foods.

Zach wishes for something similar to be passed here, and has set up an online petition to Raleigh City Council for a similar awareness campaign.

  • Ron T

    Who is this posting for? It would seem to me that people with allergies would be aware of them. Or if they do not know they have them, would likely not gain much from the poster. I do think it adds yet another regulation to local restaurants, while adding no real benefit. I assume that this organization is not willing to fund the city’s costs in putting this forward, or that of local eateries.

  • Ron T

    Sorry Dana, I did not mean your posting, I meant the posting they are suggesting. I realized that after I hit submit.

  • http://glutenfreeraleigh.blogspot.com Zach

    Ron T, I’m Zach from Gluten Free Raleigh and I’ll try to answer some of your questions. The idea is to have a poster (cost-effective educational tool) about the top 8 food allergens and gluten hung somewhere that all food service folks can easily see and reference while they are serving patrons.

    With the rising number of folks who have food allergies, something like this can go a long way in helping them live a somewhat normal life and do things you probably take for granted – like having a nice dinner out. Food service folks (unless they have a food allergy) do not live this way every day and can easily make mistakes which can make diners very sick. A simple poster for reference can help that person out. This “regulation” can save lives, reduce emergency room visits and in fact help restaurants gain customers and make money. I’d love to eat out more if I could find safe places that understood my dietary restrictions.

    FYI – Gluten Free Raleigh is not an organization. I don’t make any money or have ads on my site. It’s just me telling my story about living with Celiac Disease in Raleigh and trying to make things better for folks with CD and/or food allergies. If I were personally wealthy I would be more than happy to donate all the posters to the city. I will fully discuss all options with the City Council at some point and am willing to organize fund raisers for the cause.

    Thanks Dana for helping me spread the word! I’ve received a LOT of positive feedback and encouragement from folks who have food allergies and some negative feedback from folks who have no idea what it is like to live this way (like Ron T.). Ron – I hope I have answered your questions and helped you understand a little more. Feel free to stop by Gluten Free Raleigh and email me if you want to discuss further.

    Zach
    Gluten Free Raleigh

  • Ron T

    I would have appreciated the response to Zach had it not talked down to me as one who just has no idea what I am talking about because I live without food allergies (which I did not mention either way in my email). Since if I had any such allergies of course I would see value where I do not.

    What I did see what NO CONNECTION whatsoever between someone seeing this sign (if they read it at all) and it impacting what they are about to serve someone.
    Unless, Zach assumes the food preparer will say “hey wait, go ask the diner if they are allergic to any of the Big Eight….”
    Again, while I do have sympathy for those who have allergies and those who want to help them, I do not see this as having any effect other than adding to the current myriad of postings required of restaurants and places of employment…and to all of our costs.

  • David

    Although I empathize with these limited situations, I am fearful that we could indeed try to force anyone to do anything that we want. A poster is one thing, but is the next step to force them to offer, different products based on whatever .010% slice of the population one belongs to?

    I have to agree with Ron on this.

  • http://glutenfreeraleigh.blogspot.com/ Zach

    Ron, not my intention to talk down on you – sorry it came off that way – i just run into a lot of people who don’t understand and don’t want to even try. I am making the assumption that a person with a food allergy goes into a restaurant and notifies the server/manager/chef about their food allergy. If the restaurant person has no idea, they can reference the poster for assistance.

    I’m a positive guy and am trying to enact positive changes for people who have food allergies. It is not my intention to require restaurants to serve certain things, I just want to help those who do have the want to do it safely.

    Believe it or not, a lot of the restaurants I attempt to dine in want to cater to folks with food allergies. they just lack the training or education on what it takes. I’m just trying to make everyone a little more aware.

    I appreciate your concern with our tax dollars, but 30,000 trips to the emergency room along with 150-200 fatalities occur every year due to food allergies nationwide. A little education can go a long way to lower the costs to our health care system, no? And as I said, I would be more than willing to do some fund raising or whatever ideas the City Council comes up with.

    David – there are 12 million American’s with food allergies, do you classify that as a limited situation?

  • Oberlin

    As someone who has recently been dating someone with gluten/food allergies I personally would welcome this. It is easy to view this as an issue that may seem to affect a small number of people, but when it affects your loved ones (spouse & children)it can turn your usual routine updside down. As an example, we recently took a weekend trip to the mountains and brought all our own groceries and utensils. I have long enjoyed all the restaurants Raleigh has to offer, and would love nothing more than to share some of my favorites with her – unfortunately we are not able to go out as much as both of us would like. And thats the thing, its not that she doesn’t want to go out, but she needs to know she won’t be heading to an emergency room, just to make me happy. There are a few restaurants who have been gracious and will fix safe meals-18 Seaboard, 518 West among them. I appreciate what Zach is trying to accomplish, and welcome anything that can expand food allergy education in these kitchens and the possibility of safe dining options in the area.

  • RaleighRob

    Whether it’s a poster or a simple reference sheet, obviously education is the key. The main point is that if a diner asked the waiter “Does item 4 have any such-and-such in it?”, that the waiter will have something in the kitchen written that they can go back and give the correct answer. Something as simple as an ingredient list tacked to a bulletin board would be immensely helpful.

    Obviously many servers wouldn’t know all the ingredients…and you’d be amazed at how often they just guess instead of trying to tag down a busy chef and ask.

    And it’s not just for food allergies…vegetarians have often found that a waiter will say “I don’t think there’s meat in it” and voila…it does.

  • MikeB

    I don’t see how it can hurt. Heck, even if just one or two line cooks happen to scan the poster while on a break then it would be worth it. Watch something like Hell’s Kitchen and you can see typical low-level kitchen employees do things like crisp bacon for a salad in the same pan they are already cooking shellfish or use chicken stock in a vegetarian-labeled dish. Of course these are simply actions of a lazy/bad cook but the more they know why its bad (other than just being disgusting or misleading) the less likely they are to do it.

    Of course if general nutrition education was more of a focus in our school system (much like personal finance should be) then this would probably be less of an issue.

Posted by Dana on April 13, 2009 | Tags: Food . | ( 9 ) Comments

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