January 2024

We hope you all enjoyed a peaceful and safe Christmas, although now we’re in the fifth week of January, it feels like a somewhat distant memory! The festive period is always so difficult for our family with everyone gathered, but an empty space at the table that should have been Owen’s. We always find a way of including him in the festivities though, by watching a favourite film of his, or putting his favourite sweets in the children’s stockings as a bonus ‘Uncle Owen’ gift.  This year we had a very ‘Owen’ Christmas Eve with our brother Daniel supplying equipment for an epic family nerf-gun battle, which was perfect chaos and a great laugh. 

In our December newsletter we shared the fantastic news that, after being in talks for the past two and a half years with the Foods Standards Agency (FSA), they had finally agreed to support our campaign.  Their board had agreed it necessary to make it the law that establishments providing freshly prepared food (restaurants/ cafes/ takeaways) must provide allergen information (the 14 major allergens prescribed by EU law) for each dish, in writing, at the point of ordering, without the customer having to ask for it. They also agreed to update the guidance around the need for and nature of a conversation between waiting staff and customers regarding food hypersensitivities. 

Professor Susan Jebb, FSA Chair, has now written to Mark Spencer, Minister of State for Food, Farming and Fisheries at DEFRA and, with their permission,  we are pleased to share that letter with you (attached). Mr Spencer has the power to cement Owen’s Law into legislation, but with a general election looming later this year, time is of the essence, and we ask for your help once again. 

You can help in any/all of the following ways:

1. Write to your MP asking them to contact Mark Spencer urging him to follow the FSA guidance and change the law. You can email them but you will need to confirm your name and address so they know you are one of their constituents.  If you are able to do this please let us know, and tell us the name of your MP, so we can keep track.  You can find your MP’s contact details here and a draft letter for you to personalise can be found here should you wish to use one.

2. Contact Mark Spencer via social media on Facebook or via X @mark_spencer.  Hopefully enough people making contact will have the desired effect.

December 2023

We write with wonderful news, about which some of you may have already heard, through various news outlets.  At their meeting on 13th December the Board of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) agreed to support our campaign to change the law on food allergy labelling in the UK! 

Their Chair, Professor Susan Jebb, has written to the Government recommending that the law be changed to oblige non-pre-packed food retailers (ie restaurants, cafes and take-aways) to state the 14 prescribed food allergens in their dishes in writing, at the point of sale.  They will also call for there to be official guidance (rather than legal requirement) for there to be a discussion between the waiting staff and the customers regarding food allergies. The FSA will issue guidance to the industry, in advance of the measures becoming law, about the need to have such a conversation, and how best to present the allergen information in writing (eg symbols, words, numbers etc). These legal and guidance requirements will be policed by environmental health professionals, as part of their routine inspections. See the full letter here.

This is fantastic news for our campaign, and we hope that the Government will accepts the FSA’s recommendation in full.  When we met Mark Spencer MP, the Minister for Food, Farming and Fisheries, he gave us the clear impression he would act on the FSA’s recommendations, if they issued any.  We will be making contact with his department in the New Year and seeking confirmation that he will do that.  We will ask our supporters across the country to write (again) to their local MP, asking them to urge Mr Spencer to adopt the FSA’s recommendations. 

Since starting our campaign in April 2021 we have discussed our calls to change the law with a number of organisations, notably the FSA.  Naturally, as a regulatory body, the FSA need to consider all pertinent issues and engage with other stakeholders in the catering industry.  We accept that such things cannot be rushed and, despite some delays along the way, we are now very grateful to the FSA for their support.  The Board members, led by Margaret Gilmore, were at one in their opinion that the need to provide allergen information in the restaurant and take-away food sector must be made mandatory, and we thank them for doing so.

We hope all of you who receive this email have a good break over the coming holidays, and we look forward to continuing our campaign to change the law in 2024; with a tail wind there is no reason, in our view, why Owen’s Law could not become a real law, next year.  We look forward to updating you with further progress in 2024.

November 2023

We’re writing to update you on an exciting project we’ve been working on with Allergen Checker, who create solutions to help food establishments with allergen management, whether that be on menus or on pre-packed food. More information can be found here www.allergenchecker.co.uk.

Together, we have created an Owen’s Law Calling Card, designed for the customer to complete and leave at a restaurant or cafe, following a meal.  A pdf copy is attached to this email.  They are intended give feedback on how well the establishment provides allergen information and complies with our proposed change in the law. Our hopes are that by providing this gentle feedback, and some basic information on the campaign, we can get more and more restaurants to comply with our allergy guidelines.

We can send these out to you in packs of 10, free of charge. If you would like a pack (or two if you eat out regularly), please reply with your address. You do not have to be an allergy sufferer to take part; we know many allergy sufferers prefer not to eat out, and we’d like to target as many food establishments as possible.

In the meantime, the report on our research trip the Ireland is nearing completion.  Together with Iain Ferris, a lecturer in food safety and legislation at the University of Birmingham, we checked on over 60 various non-pre-packed food establishments across a few cities and towns, including in Dublin.  We do not want to pre-judged the final statistical analysis so will ask you to wait until the report is issued to see the extent to which the law in Ireland, which is consistent with the requirements of Owen’s Law, is being followed by restaurants and take aways etc. You will all receive a copy by email.  

July 2023

We have further news in our campaign to change the law surrounding allergy information in restaurants.  Yesterday, 3rd July, we had a meeting with Mark Spencer MP, Minister for Food, Farming and Fisheries at the Department of Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). 

We made a short presentation on our campaign and gave him a copy of the Impacts Statements that our supporters helped us with last month.  Our main request to Mr Spencer was to direct the FSA to accelerate their work on Owen’s Law and give it priority. 

The meeting was set up with the help of Emma’s constituency MP Steve Brine, who advised that the necessary legislative changes could be put in place very easily through a process called “Delegated Legislation” that does not require a parliamentary debate.  He also said that the more other MPs (of any party) that would speak to Mark Spencer, the more likely he is to take action.

We could not have got this far without you all signing our petition and writing to your MPs in support of our campaign, and we need your help again. Please write to or email your local MP, asking them to contact Mark Spencer, to support Owen’s Law and direct the FSA. Party affiliation does not matter, and they can email him or just catch him in the lobby; just enough to keep the pressure up and put campaign in his mind.

If we can achieve that there is no reason why the law could not be changed before the next election. 

You can find your MP’s contact details here: https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP.  You can email them but you will need to confirm your name and address so they know you are one of their constituents.  If you are able to do this please let us know, and tell us the name of your MP, so we can keep track. 

March 2023 - Parliamentary Debate

Good news!  The petition we set up when we launched our campaign in 2021 has finally been selected for debate in Parliament.  If you signed the petition back then then you should have already received an email notification.  In case not, you can see the details here:  https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/585304.

The debate is scheduled for 15th May 2023.  If you did sign the petition, once the debate has happened, the administrators will email you a video and transcript.

We now ask that you write to your MP and ask them to support this debate and motion.  HERE is a template letter for you to send. Just fill in your personal details (MPs will not respond if you do not show that you live in their constituency) and send it by email or post.  You can find out who your MP is here: https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP.  

Please do this as soon as you can so that we gather some momentum across Parliament.  Please also adapt the letter to suit your style, and consider asking your friends to do the same; the more the louder will be our common voice!

February 2022

Happy New year to you all, it has been a while since we updated our friends and supporters. If you know of anyone that might like to subscribe to our updates please ask them to fill in the details at the bottom of our website home page: https://owens-law.co.uk/ or you can fill them in on their behalf. They will then get an email asking them to confirm their wish to subscribe.

Now into a new year we continue to plug away at our campaign, with slow, but steady progress. 

A Few Near Misses

We have been made aware of an increase in the number of ‘near miss’ anaphylactic reactions to restaurant food in the last few years. Luckily the affected person in each case survived the reactions, but it could have so easily been otherwise. The first two cases only came to our attention because the relevant establishment was successfully prosecuted; how many more cases are there that go unreported?

In Cheshire, a customer was given food that contained nuts, despite telling the staff they had an allergy to them:  https://www.anaphylaxis.org.uk/2021/11/16/cheshire-restaurant-prosecuted-after-customer- suffered-severe-allergic-reaction/ 

In Swansea, a doctor suffered due to gluten in a meal, having been told it was gluten free:  https://foodallergyaware.co.uk/severe-allergic-reaction-caused-when-swansea-restaurant- incorrectly-serves-a-meal-containing-gluten/

At Heathrow: https://amp-theguardian- com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/07/quarantined-man-goes- into-allergic-shock-after-heathrow-hotel-serves-nuts

It is alarming that these cases have occurred, and it is precisely why we want to see Owen’s Law put into legislation. Recent news of the proposal to place adrenaline auto-injectors in public places is surely welcomed, but the implementation of Owen’s Law as well would make eating out so much safer for those at risk of anaphylaxis.

https://www.anaphylaxis.org.uk/2021/11/12/life-saving- adrenaline-auto-injectors-could-become-available-in-public-places/

Food Standards Agency

We had a further (virtual) meeting with the FSA in September at which they said they wanted to do some research into the potential outcomes of having Owen’s Law. The good news is that they have now sought tenders from professional consultancies to carry out research into “Information needs for FHS consumers when eating out, and information provision of allergen information in businesses selling non pre-packed food” and have since awarded a contract to carry out the research. This was reported in the CEO’s report to the FSA Board which you can read here at item 36: CEO Report to the FSA Board. The work is expected to be completed by April 2022 and will inform the FSA Board the following June. The FSA are currently developing the consumer aspects of the research together with the appointed contractor, and this work will gather information examining consumer ‘user journeys’ through discussions held with research participants (rather than a formal survey being conducted). We very much hope that this research will confirm what is already clear to us, i.e., that stating the allergens on the face of the menu is the preferred option for consumers.

The FSA has also launched some separate research into the use of “may contain” precautionary statements on food labels. You can take part in the work directly by visiting the “Precautionary Allergen Labelling (PAL): The ‘may contain’ Consultation” section of their website here:

https://www.food.gov.uk/news-alerts/consultations/precautionary-allergen-labelling-pal-the-may-contain-consultation

Please let us know if you undertake the survey; we have and it takes about 30 minutes for the full thing.

The Anaphylaxis Campaign

We continue to work with the team at the AC. Lynne Regent has now retired and Simon Williams has now joined in her place as CEO. We look forward to working with Simon and the rest of the team at the AC. They have supported us very well and have promoted our campaign website and petition on their website, and through their wider supporter network.

The AC finished its survey of its members and it showed overwhelming support for what our campaign is asking for. The majority of participants wanted the allergens to be stated in full, but quite a few would be happy with standardised symbols. The AC’s presentation of their survey findings can be found on our ‘Reports’ page and can be also found on their website.

Other Allergy Campaigners

We continue our dialogues with other people in the allergy space. There are clearly lots of people trying their best to raise awareness of allergies, provide support to allergy sufferers and more. Owen’s Law is focussed on one primary issue and there are many other areas of allergy research and awareness that need improvements. We want to make sure that what we seek does not dilute other campaigners’ messages.

The Petition, Politicians and Celebrities

Recognising that we need to channel our formal efforts towards the FSA, we still seek to influence the public directly (see below too) or through a big name. Our petition has now closed with just a few short of 13,000 signatures. This is clearly not as many as we would have liked, but we know it only has limited effect on the Government. We could well do with the support of a significant personality from the political or restaurant worlds, so if you have any suggestions for a willing volunteer, please let us know.

Byron

Back in the summer we had hoped that Byron might set a very public example of putting the allergens in their dishes on the face of their menus. Sadly, that does not appear to have happened yet. To be fair, the allergens in each dish are stated on the website based menu, but it does not look like the menu used at the point of ordering contains the same information. We have made more enquiries.

Publicity

On the back of the advent of Natasha’s Law coming into full force and effect on 1st October we did manage to get a bit of publicity on the Southeast regional news (the BBC) and radio. Publicity opportunities come and go depending on the general news agenda and you cannot dictate what is covered and when. The Society of Food Hygiene and Technology (SOFHT) http://www.sofht.co.uk/ did give us an opportunity to publicise our campaign in their internal newsletter and recently they invited Paul (Owen’s Dad) to their annual awards ceremony in London. This allowed us to make a few more useful contacts in the allergy and food industry spaces. Paul will also be making a presentation to their members later this month.

Most recently we were invited by BBC Radio Kent to discuss the findings from Kent County Council about the level of undisclosed allergens in food tested by them. The interview was on 7th January just after 7.15am, and you might be able to still hear it on BBC Sounds.

Now what?

As before, we will continue to talk to those in the allergy space who can help and support our efforts and where appropriate we will take up the offers of help we have received from ordinary members of the public who have contacted us. We are very grateful to them. We do not seek money for our campaign; if you want to offer money then please donate it to The Anaphylaxis Campaign.

We will continue to try and get some more public and vocal support from politicians and/or a celebrity, but most importantly we will work with The Anaphylaxis Campaign and the Foods Standards Agency to demonstrate there is a clear benefit-cost analysis to adopting Owen’s Law.

July 2021

We thank those who have signed and shared our petition. We topped the 10,000 mark a few weeks ago and so the Government is obliged to make a response (see what we have received below.)

It is reasonably positive and we continue to maintain a dialogue with the Food Standards Agency about the evidence they need to see before they will recommend the adoption of Owen’s Law to the Government. In the meantime we still need to push our petition to get above 100,000 signatures so that the Government are obliged to consider Owen’s Law for a debate in parliament. On that point, please write to your local MP, if you have not done so already, and ask them to support Owen’s Law. Sometimes they rely with a glib response, or maybe not at all, but someone out there in “parliament land” might take an interest and adopt us as a cause.

We extend our deepest sympathies to the family of Owen Carey, and to all those who have lost loved ones as a result of food allergies.

It is essential that all consumers can buy their food with confidence. The Government continues to work with the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to understand the steps that can be taken so ensure that future such tragedies are prevented.

The FSA recently met with the Carey family to discuss their proposals for Owen’s Law. The FSA has committed to working with government departments, including the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), to carefully consider evidence on how to improve the provision of information to people with food hypersensitivity.

Labelling and signage has an important role to play in providing consumers with accurate information. It is also important to ensure that hypersensitive consumer are able to communicate with food businesses when they are ordering their food. The allergy management culture within a business is a critical factor in ensuring hypersensitive consumers are adequately safeguarded when making their food choices.

All food businesses are under a legal obligation to provide information on the presence of the 14 major allergens in food. This information can be presented in different ways depending on how the food is packaged. In addition, new labelling rules for ‘prepacked for direct sale’ (PPDS) food are being implemented across the UK from 1 October 2021 and require full ingredients listing, with the 14 major allergens emphasised. This change means more types of food will now be labelled with allergen information, in particular ‘grab and go’ food.

Any new legislation will need to be carefully considered, taking into account what consumers would find helpful, the requirements for businesses and local authorities, as well as the potential for unintended consequences. The FSA has developed a dedicated programme of work on food hypersensitivity and has a strong track record of funding research in this area. The FSA is considering what other evidence it could gather and assess in relation to the Owen’s Law proposals as this is an essential part of the process for evaluating proposed legislative change.

On the proposal to establish a national register for anaphylactic deaths, DHSC notes the campaign proposal for a fatalities register and concurs that it is essential we learn from recent tragedies. The FSA also recognises the need for improved access to any source of information about fatalities where a food-related allergy is suspected. DHSC wishes to underline its emphatic support of the FSA’s strategy on food hypersensitivity; and in conjunction with the FSA’s ongoing work to collect more information on allergic reactions, DHSC is working to support the FSA to increase information prevalence regarding such fatalities.

Furthermore, DHSC and FSA officials are together considering existing data available from across the medical estate on food-related anaphylaxis cases, and how this might be analysed and used to prevent future incidents and deaths. The intention is to understand what more each Department could do in this area.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

June 2021

FOOD STANDARDS AGENCY

We have continued a constructive dialogue with the FSA following our first virtual meeting on 13th April.  We better understand the work the FSA has been doing in the wider issue of allergies and what we need to do to persuade them that a change in the law as we demand is justified.  This justification needs to be based on evidence, but we also know that political pressure also counts (see below).  Gathering evidence is important and we are working on that.  The more we hear about situations where someone suffered badly as a result of eating something containing “mis-described” allergens, the better.  We hope that such stories are of “near misses” rather than fatal outcomes such as happened in Owen’s case.  

THE ANAPHYLAXIS CAMPAIGN

We continue to work with Lynne Regent and the team at the AC.  They have supported us very well and have promoted our campaign website and petition on their website, and through their wide supporter network.  

The AC has launched a survey of its members to assess the degree of support for Owen’s Law, ie the simple stating of allergens in each dish on the face if the menu.  We are optimistic this will show there is strong demand amongst consumers for Owen’s Law.

Talking of surveys, one of our supporters is a former “pollster” with a nationally recognised polling company, and through them he organised an online survey among a nationally representative sample of 2131 GB adults, weighted to be representative demographically of all adults.  It was conducted on 14-16 May 2021 with the question:

“Restaurants should be required by law to list the allergens in their dishes in order to eliminate risks to customers at the point of ordering food: Do you agree or disagree with these statements?”.  

The results showed that across all age groups and UK regions, at least two-thirds of those surveyed support Owen’s Law!

OTHER ALLERGY CAMPAIGNERS

We have struck up dialogues with many other people in the allergy space, and will continue to do so.  Clearly, Owen’s Law is focussed on one primary issue and there are many other areas in which allergens and allergy sufferers need to see improvements.  We want to make sure that what we seek does not dilute other campaigners’ messages.  

THE PETITION & POLITICIANS

Whilst the petition might be regarded as a non-scientific piece of evident it is nonetheless important in gaining the attention of politicians.  It currently stands at just over 11,600 signatures, but if we get above 100,000 the government is obliged to have a discussion in parliament.  We therefore urge you to keep sharing it.  If you share it on platforms such as Facebook or LinkedIn please remember that the clever algorithms that dictate who sees your posts means that not all of your friends will necessarily see it, so please post it again (and again)!

In the meantime we have written to a number of politicians who may be interested in supporting our cause although sadly none of them have really replied.  

BYRON BURGERS

There is some good news here.  We recently met with Simon Wilkinson, the CEO of Famously Proper Ltd, the company that now owns the Byron brand.  To be clear, this company purchased the brand name rights and a number of the restaurants from the old Byron Hamburgers Ltd (the company who owned the restaurant in which Owen ate his last meal, and which is now in administration) so Famously Proper is not liable to us or for what happened to Owen.

Nonetheless, Simon Wilkinson has agreed to change Byron’s menus to state the allergens in each dish on the face of their menus!  We look forward to seeing the details of this; some of you will be familiar with Wetherspoons who already are “Owen’s Law compliant” and we hope that through Byron’s move we will get more restaurants to adopt it.

PUBLICITY

We had some excellent publicity on TV, radio and on-line papers back in May soon after our campaign launch.  Recently, on the back of our meeting with Byron, we were able to get some further news coverage on the BBC in primetime television.  This resulted in yet more supporters and subscribers to our mailing list.  We continue to look for more opportunities to promote Owen’s Law.

WHAT NEXT?

We will continue to talk to those in the allergy space who can help and support our efforts and where appropriate we will take up the offers of help we have received from ordinary members of the public who have contacted us.  We are very grateful to them.  We do not seek money for our campaign; if you want to offer money then please donate it to The Anaphylaxis Campaign.

We will continue to push the petition and politicians, but most importantly we will work with The Anaphylaxis campaign and the Foods Standards Agency to demonstrate there is a clear benefit-cost analysis to adopting Owen’s Law.

___

April 2021

The company which owned the Byron restaurant chain in 2017, Byron Hamburgers Ltd, went into administration last year.  The CEO at the time of the inquest (but not in 2017), Simon Wilkinson, is now the CEO of the new company that purchased the Byron brand, along with twenty of the restaurants.  Notably they did not take on the O2 location in which Owen at his last ever meal.  According to Companies House Mr Wilkinson remains a director of the original company.  We have now written to Simon Wilkinson and the administrators of Byron Hamburgers Ltd asking them to support our campaign and change the chain’s menus to show all of the allergens in each of their dishes.  Now being in the hands of a new company, looking forward to opening up their restaurants as the Covid restrictions are relaxed, we hope they will see this as an opportunity to set things right.  We await his reply.

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April 2021

We had a virtual meeting with the Food Standard Agency’s CEO, Emily Miles and Interim Chair, Ruth Hussey.  Other members of the FSA’s team took part in what was a positive initial meeting.  We explained our wish to see a change in the law, to prevent any more deaths like Owen’s.  The FSA said any proposed changes to the law would have to assessed on the evidence, and it would be important to ensure there were no unintended consequences.  The FSA briefed us on the work they had done in response to the Prevention of Future Deaths report issued by coroner Briony Ballard in September 2019.  It was agreed to have further meetings once we had had a response from DEFRA. 

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7th April 2021

On what would have been Owen’s 22nd birthday we wrote to Rt Hon George Eustice MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, setting out our wishes to see a change in the law.  We explained “We are not lawyers, and are not advised by any, but from our research it would appear that changes to Regulation 5 of the Food Information Regulations 2014 would achieve what we seek”.  We have requested a meeting with Mr Eustace, but so far we have not heard back.