Northern Ireland

Belfast restaurant Cafe Parisien fined after customer taken to hospital following allergic reaction

The city centre restaurant said it deeply regretted distress caused but described incident as isolated

Cafe Parisien, opposite Belfast City Hall. Picture Mal McCann
Cafe Parisien. PICTURE: MAL MCCANN

A Belfast city centre restaurant was fined and ordered to pay compensation after a customer suffered an allergic reaction and needed hospital treatment.

The customer suffered an anaphylactic reaction after consuming food containing milk at Cafe Parisien.

Cafe Parisien Limited pleaded guilty to two offences at Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.

The company said it deeply regretted the distress caused as a result of the “unfortunate human error”.

A spokesperson for Cafe Parisien told BBC News NI the restaurant and staff take all food safety procedures “extremely seriously”. They said it was an isolated incident at a private event in April last year.

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“We continue to advocate and promote clear processes to ensure there are many opportunities to log and properly act upon any allergen food requests,” the company said.

The first charge involved serving food that was unsafe for certain consumers and the second was for failing to ensure proper procedures were in place in its food safety management system to provide allergen-free food.

The company was fined £2,500, ordered to pay £523 in costs, and also required to pay £500 in compensation to the customer.