Cafe Catastrophe: When a Simple Cup of Coffee Turns into a Life-Threatening Allergy

Customers have had to seek treatment at a hospital’s emergency department after suffering severe allergic reactions in two separate incidents at a cafe in Ashburton.

In the worst case scenario, a customer collapsed outside the cafe, suffered anaphylactic shock, and was taken to the hospital emergency room for treatment.

A recent Ashburton District Council report highlighted the seriousness of two recent incidents.

The report said miscommunication resulted in customers receiving food they were allergic to. The name of the cafe was not revealed.

The local food regulator, the council, announced that both cafes had received “satisfactory results” from food safety audits before the incident.

In the first incident, a cafe customer with a history of severe allergies ordered a vegan bagel and informed cafe staff of his condition.

The customer received a gluten-free bagel and had a severe allergic reaction.

He alerted staff, collapsed outside the building and had to be treated in A&E for anaphylactic shock.

The investigation found that communication issues resulted in staff failing to record and communicate the correct allergies to food deliverers and counters.

As a result, staff were retrained on allergies and procedures were improved to ensure communication between staff when customers alerted them to specific allergies.

In the second incident, a guest with a nut allergy visited another cafe.

This person ordered a dessert menu with chocolate sauce topping. However, because it was actually a Nutella sauce topping, the customer suffered a severe allergic reaction and had to seek treatment at A&E.

The investigation revealed that the purchased item was new to the menu and was incorrectly labeled as containing chocolate topping.

Following this incident, the cafe modified its advertising labels to reflect the use of Nutella. In addition, inspections of food at the time of sale were improved, with employees receiving re-training on allergies.

Ashburton Council’s compliance and development group manager Ian Hyde said the two cafes had been audited during the reporting period before the incident and were found to be operating satisfactorily.

“How often you inspect your operations will depend on whether it is a high-risk or low-risk business,” Hyde said.

“It may also depend on how well you manage food safety. Those who are doing well will need less frequent inspections.”

Food service monitoring in this area has been discontinued.