One of the many rules that restaurants have to follow is providing their customers with a list of common allergy ingredients. So, what happens when a person isn’t notified, and they suffer a food allergy? Read on to learn if the restaurant is truly at fault.

Food Allergies and Liability

More and more people across the country are reporting being allergic to certain types of foods. This has also led to having people needing to go to the ER when they accidentally consume an ingredient that they are allergic to. In fact, according to the Center for Diseases Control, over 30,000 people are admitted into the ER each year. So, who’s at fault when this issue arises? Read on to learn some surprising facts regarding food allergies and liability.

Food Allergies Being Communicated

One of the most more difficult parts of this topic is that laws are drastically different within each state. However, one of the few things that most states and Las Vegas injury attorneys firms can agree on is negligence. When a customer informs the chef, manager, or waiter about their allergies and is still provided the ingredient within their food, the restaurant can be found guilty of negligence. This is because the concern was clearly communicated, and the restaurant failed to take the proper steps to avoid harming the customer.

Cross-Contamination

Perhaps the most difficult to prove when it comes to a person suffering a food allergy within a restaurant is cross-contamination. For example, if a person ordered a Burger, the chef might have touched the burger with gloves covered in peanut butter residue. It can be difficult for the customer to claim negligence when no peanut ingredient went into the making of a burger.

Intentional Actions

Unfortunately, there are a lot of bad people in the world. On rare occasions, when customers ask waiters or cooks to prepare their meals a certain way, the employee may not take too well to these demands. There have been events where employees purposely added the ingredient and thus sent the customer to the hospital. In these cases, a clear addition of an ingredient can be seen, and thus more serious criminal charges can be filed against the business and even the employee.