A hotel has faced court and been hit with over $30k in fines after serving a dessert mistakenly labelled ‘allergen-free’ and nearly killing a patron.
According to facts presented before the court, a woman was attending a function at the Pan Pacific in Perth in November last year, at which organisers had informed the hotel in advance of a guest with allergies to nuts, and sesame seeds and oil.
However, the tart served to the woman, although labelled allergen-free, had in fact been cooked in sesame oil.
After consuming the dish, the woman began suffering anaphylaxis and had to administer an EpiPen, before being rushed to Royal Perth Hospital.
This week representatives of the Hotel appeared before Perth Magistrates Court, sentenced with one count of selling food that did not comply with the purchaser’s demand.
A victim impact statement relayed that the woman believed she was going to die in hospital and attributed her survival to the prompt actions of paramedics. She suffers lasting physiological and psychological effects from the incident, having become highly anxious about any food she hasn’t prepared herself.
The Hotel had promptly pleaded guilty to the charge and management made a point of expressing genuine remorse by way of an apology to the woman and offering compensation. In hopes of preventing any repeat of the incident, the hotel has reportedly overhauled its anaphylactic procedures.
The charge carries a maximum fine for an individual of $50k, or $250k for a corporation.
It was ruled the Hotel’s allergen procedures had failed, but that the incident appeared to be isolated and there was no evidence of systematic failure.
But the magistrate did determine that a breach of the Food Act 2008 had occurred, and made even more serious because despite prior warning, the food was falsely pronounced safe.
It was acknowledged that the hotel had immediately pleaded guilty and fully cooperated with the subsequent investigations by the City of Perth and WorkSafe, resulting in a $30k fine plus court costs of more than $4,600.
