Hotel refuses to accept responsibility after man's wife with prawn allergy nearly dies from buffet

[2long]

Not a lot of sympathy for the diners on here, is there? And quite rightly so.

What confuses me is that if this is a 'goo and get your food from a communal buffet table' the member of staff wasn't a waiter, was he? Maybe he was just 'staff' who replaces the nearly-empty serving trays with fresh ones. a WAITER should have more knowledge of dishes, but I feel this is the wrong term for the staff's job.

[Andre0720]

4 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Why should the hotel be responsible for the lady eating a prawn? 

 

Should the hotel be responsible IF the lady had an allergy to and ate rice at a buffet ???

 

 

This action placed firm in the realms of disregard for ones own safety, the lady was utterly careless with her own safety when knowing the severity of an allergy and how very common foods such as prawn are in Thailand at any buffet. 

 

 

 

The wife was interested in the salad and inquired of the waiter about its contents because there was no sign.

 

She was assured that it was just vegetables and fruit. Pressed on this because she has a prawn allergy the staffer confirmed it was safe for her to eat, he claimed.

 

She does not appear careless, as she asked HOTEL staff about the content of the salad.

The HOTEL should take responsibility for the actions of its staff. Period.

[Dickp]

Niether my wife or me are allergic to any food that we know of. We have been living here 31 yrs I have learned of a few things about Thai's and them never wanting to give bad news to anyone. I would say this if you have any food aliiergics "Do Not Come to Thailand", you will never know for sure whats in the food.

[Sticky Rice Balls]

On 5/16/2022 at 11:28 PM, it is what it is said:

if you have doubts about food in a restaurant ask to speak to the chef.

I tried--the company rep said Chef Boyardee is a fictional Chef and does not exist .....  sadly

[geisha]

On 5/16/2022 at 8:49 AM, IamNoone88 said:

You can't sit down for a meal in London without being ruthlessly cross examined on food allergies by the waiters. Its rather invasive and very CYA. 

Where I live restaurants have to have menus with the * allergic* ingredients mentioned for each dish. Especially nuts , sea food, shellfish , can be very dangerous to some, also some chefs don’t take care and forget the fish sauce or that satay sauce has nuts in it. I think it should be law everywhere , remember that poor teenager dying on a London to France flight after eating a sandwich bought at the airport? Tragic.

A restaurant once gave me pork instead of chicken in a stir fry. I’m not allergic, I could have had religious reasons not to eat porc.I don’t. I did say to the waiter it was porc, he checked his order, it said chicken.,I left it there, but they were adamant it was chicken. I did eat it too, but that’s not the point.

[Damrongsak]

On 5/16/2022 at 3:45 AM, SeaMike01 said:

Thais will sometimes answer 'yes' to everything. Even if they have no idea or don't understand what's being asked.

I once got on a local bus and I asked an old guy next to me (in simple Thai) if this bus goes to Khon Kaen (or wherever).  He nodded so I took that as a yes.  About 45 minutes later, I realized we're going in the opposite direction. SIGH.  Hey, maybe the bus did go to Khon Kaen, on the return leg!

 

As for ingredients, I had a time of it years ago as I'm vegetarian.  I learned to be very specific in telling what I didn't want in a dish.  People at restaurants didn't think fish sauce or pork oil or even chicken broth counted. 

 

A co-worker in the U.S with a severe peanut allergy died from a restaurant meal years back.  And I know he was the kind to be very careful. 

[The Hammer2021]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/natasha-ednanlaperouse-pret-baguette-allergy-death-b2081509.html

[KanchanaburiGuy]

I'm a finicky, picky, easily-annoyed eater. Lol

 

I want

[richard_smith237]

On 5/18/2022 at 3:38 PM, The Hammer2021 said:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/natasha-ednanlaperouse-pret-baguette-allergy-death-b2081509.html

This was a horrific story...    ‘sesame seeds baked within the bread’ not just on top (i.e. hidden)... a 15 year old girl could not have expected to know that that the seeds were ‘inside the bread itself’.... no one could expect that. 

 

There was a change in the law as a result of this (called Natasha’s law) that ALL ingredients need to be listed on any packaged food item sold to the public. 

 

 

What happened to this girl is somewhat different to an adult with a prawn allergy biting into and eating half a prawn from a salad at a buffet and then claiming its the restaurants fault. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[richard_smith237]

On 5/17/2022 at 5:13 PM, Andre0720 said:

The wife was interested in the salad and inquired of the waiter about its contents because there was no sign.

 

She was assured that it was just vegetables and fruit. Pressed on this because she has a prawn allergy the staffer confirmed it was safe for her to eat, he claimed.

 

She does not appear careless, as she asked HOTEL staff about the content of the salad.

The HOTEL should take responsibility for the actions of its staff. Period.

She picked a whole prawn out of the salad, bit off half of it, ate and swallowed. 

 

She did this because she placed complete faith in the hotel staff (waitress) and didn’t second guess their answer by looking at what was on her spoon / fork. 

 

I don’t have a food allergy, but I do know what a prawn looks like on my fork or spoon even if it is mixed up with other items in a salad. 

 

I also know not to believe the answer from any staff in supermakets, restaurants, hotels and pretty much anyone in the service industry in Thailand....  in general, they will just give me the quickest and easiest answer. I know this because this is what I have learned here about asking questions - a clear honest answer is just too much effort for people who really don’t give a damn... so.. ‘yes’ or ’no’ depending on context is the simply go to response... or ’no have’ !!! 

 

I have been in restaurants and seen staff outright lie to my Wife because they just want to give the quickest and easiest answer. 

 

 

So.... How did this lady manage to eat a half a prawn ????.....  

Answer: she was not paying attention and now she wants to blame someone else for her carelessness.  

 

IF she wasn’t careless I don’t know what you would call it? simply throwing caution to the wind?

 

 

IF the prawn was pureed in a carrot soup she’d have strong grounds for a complaint... but she ate half of a whole prawn from a salad....  IF you have a life threatening allergy to that sort of thing, you look for that sort of thing !!! 

 

 

My Wife doesn’t drink...  She asks the waitress, is there any alcohol in the Tiramisu  ???  No replies the waitress... I taste first... Definitely booze in there !! plenty of it....   The waitress didn’t lie, but she answered when she didn’t know....    We know not to believe the waitress anyway.... So should  this lady especially when it concerns a potentially life threatening issue. 

 

Edited May 19, 2022 by richard_smith237

[Senior Player]

Reminds me of a moment when I overhead an Aussie diner asking a waitress in a Soi Buakhao cafe did the dish he wanted contain nuts as he had a life-threatening allergy called anaphylaxis. The waitress DID ask the chef and came back and told him it didn't. Fortunately for him the chef was right. But it did make me wonder how a person can go confidently on holiday and put their trust in a restaurant that they're unacquainted with, especially when they have a life-threatening allergy. If it was me, I probably wouldn't risk it and stay home or prepare my own food in a rented condo.

[richard_smith237]

5 minutes ago, Senior Player said:

Reminds me of a moment when I overhead an Aussie diner asking a waitress in a Soi Buakhao cafe did the dish he wanted contain nuts as he had a life-threatening allergy called anaphylaxis. The waitress DID ask the chef and came back and told him it didn't. Fortunately for him the chef was right. But it did make me wonder how a person can go confidently on holiday and put their trust in a restaurant that they're unacquainted with, especially when they have a life-threatening allergy. If it was me, I probably wouldn't risk it and stay home or prepare my own food in a rented condo.

Well...  in that area of Pattaya its difficult for some to tell what has nuts and what doesn’t !!! 

 

In the same manner we can test with a lateral flow test for Covid-19 - surely there must be a similar manner we can test for allergens such as shrimp, seafood, peanuts etc...  

 

I don’t know how expensive these are, but if I had a life threatening allergy, I’d be wanting to test food with these when out in a restaurant unless it was plainly obvious what I am eating...  

 

https://www.romerlabs.com/en/analytes/food-allergens/peanut-test-kits/

 

https://www.regabio.com/shellfish

 

 

 

 

Now, if someone with an allergy to peanuts were to put half a peanut from a Salad in their mouth and swallow it...   who do they blame ??

 

 

[Senior Player]

7 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Well...  in that area of Pattaya its difficult for some to tell what has nuts and what doesn’t !!! 

Precisely. Which is good enough reason not to dine-out abroad if you suffer from anaphylaxis. Why take the risk? Rent a condo and prepare the food yourself to be on the safe side.

 

11 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

In the same manner we can test with a lateral flow test for Covid-19 - surely there must be a similar manner we can test for allergens such as shrimp, seafood, peanuts etc...  

I'm not entirely convinced these lateral flow tests really work. Any number of them can give-off false positives or negative results. The irony of all ironies, I see Jimmy Kimmel has tested positive again for Covid twice in just two weeks!! And I've still yet to catch it once.

 

This story posted on Facebook does seem rather odd. The woman did show a level of naivety by eating at a eat-all-you-can buffet and not double-checking the food she'd just spooned onto her plate first. And it's really their word against the waiter's. It certainly doesn't help that she didn't notice the prawn on her fork, and neither did her partner, who should've sampled the food first before she did as it's such a big concern.

[jacko45k]

On 5/16/2022 at 10:38 AM, Cabradelmar said:

If you are eating at a salad buffet with food allergies you need to have your head examined

I recall the incident in the UK where poor old 'Pret a Manger' were blamed for the death of a young girl who had one of their sandwiches before boarding a flight, and later died as there were some nuts she was allergic to in there. The company had complied with all legal requirements, labelling contents.... etc. I was thinking as the girl knew of her allergy she should be very wary indeed what she ate. I have an intolerance to some items, and it is a pain avoiding them, more so here where labeling lacks such details. I suspect many here are unaware there are many who have these problems. 

Edited May 20, 2022 by jacko45k