A woman died after going to a restaurant for a first date and eating a meal she'd had before, not knowing that the recipe had been changed since last time.
Alison Pickering died on 12 May, 2023 at a restaurant in Texas, with her obituary saying she experienced a 'severe anaphylactic shock from ingesting peanuts'.
CBS News reported that the 23-year-old had known she had a peanut allergy from a young age and been careful with what food she ate, having come home from school with hives one day after a fellow student shared their food.
The woman had been about to graduate from Tarleton State University when she went on a first date, and being careful with food she picked at a restaurant she'd already been to so she could order a dish she'd previously eaten.
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At the restaurant she ordered mahi-mahi, a fish dish, but she didn't know that since the last time she'd been there, peanut sauce had been added to the recipe.
Her family told the outlet she knew something was wrong shortly after the meal began.
Alison's dad Grover Pickering explained that the 23-year-old 'took a few bites' and then 'realised something was wrong'.
He said: "She did her Epipen. The ambulance came. She actually walked to the ambulance talking to them, but somewhere along the way things went downhill."
Alison fell unconscious and did not wake up again, with her father saying what happened was 'tragic and it doesn't need to happen to anyone else'.
Her family have since started campaigning for more awareness around food allergies, with Alison's mother Joy saying: "We would love to see more done to make wait staff and patrons aware."
They would like to have clearer communication between the kitchen and the serving staff over changes to recipes, especially where ingredients that people are often allergic to are concerned.
The Pickerings said they would like to help restaurants put in place 'better communication to their customers as far as ingredients' so those picking a dish know exactly what is going into it.
"I know we're going to save lives by doing this," Joy Pickering said of the changes they wanted to bring in.
Alison is sadly of of many people who have died from allergic reactions after eating meals which they did not know contained something they were not supposed to eat.
Dr. Kanokporn Tangsuan died after eating at Disney World Orlando, after being reassured her dish was 'unequivocally' safe to eat, and using her Epipen.
23-year-old James Atkinson had also been diagnosed with a peanut allergy, and he died in 2020 after eating a slice of chicken tikka masala pizza that left him 'gasping for air'. An ambulance was called, and he was rushed to hospital, but he did not make it.
Topics: Food And Drink, Health, US News
Joe Harker