05 Dec 2010
Most eateries not prepared or willing to cater to customers with food allergies
From hawker fare to restaurant cuisine, Singapore’s smorgasbord delights local residents and tourists. But diners with food allergies may beg to differ.
They point to a widespread lack of awareness among cooks and waiters that food allergies can be fatal.
Requests for special food orders may be mistaken for fussiness and ignored, with the result that diners with food allergies end up sick.
For instance, in the last three years, the paediatric allergy clinic at the National University Hospital (NUH), which treats both adults and children, has been seeing 50 to 60 patients with diagnosed food allergies each year.
At Singapore General Hospital (SGH), there is an average of about one outpatient food allergy case every week.
Communications consultant Matthew O’Leary, 27, who moved from London to Singapore in October, has been to hospital emergency rooms here twice – due to severe peanut allergy attacks after eating at foodcourts.
The Canadian, whose last allergy attack was four years ago, said: “I will tell food sellers here I cannot have any peanuts or I will get very sick, but the seriousness of my condition does not sink in.”
His allergy attacks occurred after eating curry and sushi. He broke out in rashes and his throat was constricted, causing breathing difficulties.
He said: “I was really looking forward to eating all the lovely food but it will be hard because people here generally do not understand the seriousness of food allergies.”
Ms Jenny Yeo, 33, a communications consultant who is allergic to dairy products, said she often encounters indifference when she asks waiters if a dish has such items.
And despite her request to have dairy products substituted or removed from a dish, restaurant kitchens often get her order wrong.
The price she pays is allergy reactions such as migraines that last three days each time – about once every fortnight.
For housewife Elizabeth Tan, 29, whose two-year-old son has an egg allergy, getting hawkers to accommodate her request for egg-free dishes is a challenge.
She said: “Some hawkers refuse to take my word that my son cannot eat eggs and insist on cooking the dish, such as fried rice, with eggs because they say it will not taste good otherwise.”
More than 160 foods are known to cause food allergies in sensitive individuals. The common allergens in Singapore are seafood, peanuts, bird’s nest, milk and eggs.
Professor Hugo Van Bever, head of the paediatric allergy, immunology and rheumatology service at NUH, said about 2 per cent of people here have food allergies and in children, the prevalence is between 4 per cent and 5 per cent.
Dr Chong Yong Yeow, director of the allergy clinic at SGH, said reactions to food allergies include rash, swollen lips and eyes, and breathing difficulties.
In acute cases, the patient may become unconscious or even die. The only course of treatment is to seek immediate medical attention.
Ms Jenny Huang, vice-president of the Asthma and Allergy Association, said awareness of food allergy here is low, unlike in the United States and Britain, possibly because there are no specific food laws that protect individuals with food allergies.
In the US and Britain, laws require pre-packed foods to highlight common allergens in the ingredient list and there are industry guidelines to help eateries adopt practices friendly to customers with food allergies.
It is also common for restaurant menus in these countries to highlight common allergens such as nuts used in dishes.
The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority, which oversees food safety issues in Singapore, requires all ingredients in pre-packed food products to be listed but there are no special requirements for the labelling of allergens.
Its spokesman said the agency is aware of international norms in food allergen labelling and it is reviewing local food regulations.
There are no industry-wide guidelines either on how eateries should handle diners with food allergies and menus usually do not indicate common allergens in dishes.
Mr Ang Kiam Meng, president of the Restaurant Association of Singapore, acknowledged that having such a guideline would teach service and kitchen staff “not to take lightly” food allergy requests.
Restaurants, however, told The Sunday Times that the small number of diners here with food allergies makes it impractical to list allergens in dishes on the menus.
One exception is Shangri-La Hotel. Menus at all its dining outlets indicate dishes with allergens such as nuts and alcohol.
The food and beverage industry is taking steps to cater to diners with food allergies.
At the Crystal Jade group of restaurants and the Thai Express chain of eateries, for example, staff are trained to tweak dishes or propose alternatives when informed by guests of their food allergies.
Similarly, culinary students at Shatec Institutes and At-Sunrice GlobalChef Academy are taught to accommodate requests from diners with food allergies.
And at fine-dining Indian restaurant Yantra and modern European cafe Oomphatico’s, guests with food allergies can consult the chefs, who will advise them on menu items that are safe for consumption or suggest alternatives to those that are not.
Said Yantra’s executive chef Chintan Pandya: “Restaurants in dining capitals of the world such as London and New York always look into the dietary requirements of guests, so if Singapore wants to be up there, restaurants need to go the extent to meet diners’ needs.”
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Dept of Rheumatology & Immunology
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