A woman died after eating her favourite meal after the restaurant changed the menu. Alison Pickering, 23, was cautious about her food choices due to her peanut allergy and typically steered clear of sauces and dips that might contain nuts.
However, during a date at a familiar eatery in May 2023, just days before her graduation from Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas, she fell gravely ill after consuming a mahi-mahi dish she believed was safe. She didn’t realise the restaurant had altered the recipe to include peanut sauce.
Despite administering her Epipen and prompt arrival of medical assistance, Alison’s condition rapidly worsened and she tragically passed away. Her grieving parents Joy and Grover Pickering are now on a mission to heighten allergy awareness and the fatal risks posed by mislabelled food.
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“She would repeatedly go to the same restaurants and order the same dishes, you know. And that was a common thing,” Mr Pickering told CBS News.
Recalling the harrowing final moments of his daughter’s life, he said: “She took a few bites, realized something was wrong. She did her Epipen. The ambulance came. She actually walked to the ambulance talking to them, but somewhere along the way things went downhill”, reports the Irish Mirror.
Alison tragically lost her life on May 12, 2023, after going into anaphylactic shock from consuming peanuts, as stated in her obituary. Her devastated parents are now campaigning for greater food safety awareness, particularly in restaurants, where in Alison’s case, the staff were not informed of a change in the menu.
The Texas Legislature passed the Sergio Lopez Food Allergy Awareness Act last year, named after Sergio Lopez who also tragically died in 2014 after unknowingly eating peanuts.
The act mandates that eateries enhance allergy awareness by displaying posters with information about food allergies and how to respond to allergic reactions.
It also stipulates that “food training programs and the food manager certification exam include food allergies as a subject.”
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