Gluten Free Pizza NOT Gluten Free!

Pollycat

marliepanda wrote: »

Unless the menu said GF then it's irrelevant.

I think it's an important point about whether this pizza place actually had gluten free pizzas on the menu.

I've asked the OP this:

Pollycat wrote: »

Did it say 'Gluten free pizza' on the menu?

If it wasn't on the menu, pretty silly (imho) of the OP's friend - doctor or not - to take someone's word for it.

And from this, it sounds very doubtful that gluten free pizza was on the menu:

bigp26 wrote: »

My father and I therefore tucked into this pizza, impressed at how authentic it tasted. The next morning, we both suffered from stomach pain and diarrhoea. We have also been feeling rather fatigued over the last few days. I therefore called the pizza place up today and asked them if they did a gluten free pizza. I was shocked the hear a “No” down the phone.

bigp26 wrote: »

I feel absolutely disgusted by such behaviour. My father and I are lucky that we don’t break out in rashes or have life threatening symptoms due to gluten exposure, however we still felt that it harmed our bodies! The long term effect of such exposure when having the disease is cancer and I am rather fuming at the negligence that this company has shown. The fact that one bit of gluten exposure essentially puts your intestines back to square one (after months and months of staying on the special diet) really just frustrates me!

I think if the OP feels 'disgusted' at anybody, it should be the person who ordered the pizzas.

bigp26 wrote: »

What would be my next steps? Is there a governing body I can complain to? Can I claim compensation?

I thought I’d consult on here before I go into the pizza place and start getting angry.

Kindest Regards,
P

I'm not even going to comment on the question about claiming compensation. :cool:

bigp26 wrote: »

Not sure what you mean by this! To be honest I don't have the time to go and try and claim compensation and wouldn't want to ruin a family business like that.

If you didn't intend to claim compensation, why ask about it in your first post?

Next time your cousin orders takeway food for you, maybe make sure she uses a menu so she knows whether they actually do gluten free food.

unholyangel

soolin wrote: »

There is a precedent for a restaurant being sued for selling gluten free which was not in fact gluten free

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2325603/Jamie-Olivers-Italian-restaurant-chain-hit-17-000-legal-serving-wheat-pasta-coeliac-terrible-mix-up.html

If you read that article, it was Trading Standards who took action against them, not the customer (customer settled out of court it states). The £17k cost mentioned was down to £8k fine and £9k costs.

Pollycat

unholyangel wrote: »

If you read that article, it was Trading Standards who took action against them, not the customer (customer settled out of court it states). The £17k cost mentioned was down to £8k fine and £9k costs.

Yes, and I think it was a different scenario as the restaurant served 'the wrong kind of pasta' by mistake.

'She spoke to the maitre d' and was assured that gluten free pasta could be provided, so an order was placed and consumed.

So Jamie's restaurant does serve GF pasta, they just gave that customer the wrong sort.

The OP says the takeaway they used did not serve GF pizza.

peachyprice

Crazy_Jamie wrote: »

You are continually missing the point. The relevance of her being a doctor is that she is, as a matter of logic, more likely to be aware of the ramifications of the condition and therefore more likely to mention it over the phone.

You'd think she'd have been more thoughtful towards her guests then, not ordered from somewhere that doesn't even have what she wanted on the menu. Her 'logic' seems to have failed her completely.

peachyprice

Crazy_Jamie wrote: »

You seem quite determined to continue this internet debate at all costs

As do you.

marliepanda

Either you continue with your stance 'Crazy Jamie' that as a doctor she was more aware when ordering. Therefore she would have a duty of care as a doctor towards the OP to provide him with gluten free, as she, as you say, was so aware of the ramifications. Therefore she failed in her duty of care by

a) not ordering from a place that actually offered GF, simply asking if they had, by sheer chance, a stack of expensive GF pizza bases in their stock and
b) not immediately stopping him eating it when she saw it was labelled vegan and not GF.

OR she had no duty of care because she was just ordering pizza for her friends. I think the second is much more likely, and better for her as a doctor as in that case she would not be under such constant pressure to provide medically correct food.

Just_a_Girl_2

What surprises me is the lack of knowledge around coeliac and gluten, even in places that sell food. A lot of people don't even know what gluten is - I'm regularly asked if it's food items such as milk, rice, cheese, etc. I've also had people assume that it's something to do with being vegetarian.

My guess is the person on the end of the phone didn't know what gluten free meant and assumed it was something to do with vegan, hence the vegan pizza being sent.

This is why I only eat out at places that are accredited with NCGI, because the staff are educated.

I recently ate in pizza hut and the waitress was kind enough to bring out the book to show me what I could and couldn't have from the salad bar, which I thought was fantastic

marliepanda

Just_a_Girl wrote: »

What surprises me is the lack of knowledge around coeliac and gluten, even in places that sell food. A lot of people don't even know what gluten is - I'm regularly asked if it's food items such as milk, rice, cheese, etc. I've also had people assume that it's something to do with being vegetarian.

My guess is the person on the end of the phone didn't know what gluten free meant and assumed it was something to do with vegan, hence the vegan pizza being sent.

I reckon the bit in bold is the most likely scenario, but I do believe, as you do yourself, that taking the reigns yourself on what you eat is more important, such as eating at accredited foodplaces.

Gluten intolerance (and lactose intolerance) do seem to be the new 'in things' with diets (not coeliac, I know thats a different ball game)
Tonnes of my friends are not gluten and lactose intolerant... until they really fancy that chocolate muffin, or four cheese pizza. Yes gluten free is one of the more 'common' things in that lots of stores not do gluten free, and dairy free things are becoming more common also, but I do strongly believe that if you have such illnesses/dietary requirements, it is your responsibility to make sure that what you eat is suitable, by checking packaging, using the accreditations available etc. I believe the staff should use the information available to them, but not that they should have a huge knowledge of what is and is not suitable for various illnesses, intolerances and allergies.

For example I used to work in a cake shop and had NO idea that one of our cakes was not vegetarian due to a particular natural colouring in the pink icing. I wouldnt have guessed in a million years that a cake was not vegetarian!

Crazy_Jamie

peachyprice wrote: »

As do you.

Actually, I'm trying to keep this particular strand on the issue of relevant facts in a personal injury claim, and stop it from descending into a standard internet forum tit for tat, something which is very common but not at all useful for the person actually asking for advice. A battle which I am quite clearly losing.

Pollycat

Crazy_Jamie wrote: »

Actually, I'm trying to keep this particular strand on the issue of relevant facts in a personal injury claim,

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: