This is a petition to make restaurants/eateries more accessible for people with allergies & intolerances.

I have recently developed Lactose Intolerance, along with an intolerance to maple syrup, garlic and most herbs & spices. As many know - since covid - recently a lot of eateries have converted to ordering food from the table via a barcode, however I have noticed that anyone with an allergy cannot do this. It seems logical for there to be an option within the order process to select your allergens from a list, when the order is submitted this can be acknowledged and the appropriate procedures can be taken to ensure there is no risk of cross contamination. I say this more because if you have any allergens you are most likely going to be told to order from the bar/till, however multiple times now I have a received a meal and not been well after eating it, clearly because of a miscommunication of some sort and an ingredient has been added or been cross contaminated.

An alternative for restaurants that don’t have the ‘order from the table’ option would be an ‘allergens sheet’ at the till that can be filled out and given to someone who works there when receiving someone’s order. 

I think many would also benefit from a list of common allergens listed below items on a menu, for example I recently ordered a burger which came with burger sauce. I removed the burger sauce as I was not sure what the ingredient contained and I find often people that work at the restaurants cannot inform me on what is in a certain ingredient because ‘they no longer have the original packaging.’ It is hard enough having an allergy, but being nervous and unsure anywhere I eat is becoming a problem and makes me not enjoy my meal as much as I feel I should. I am pretty fortunate in the circumstances that my intolerances are not life threatening, but I know that they are for some people. I feel a lot of restaurants, especially smaller chains, are more careless when it comes to allergens.

I had no food intolerances or allergies for 20 years of my life. The past 3 months have been extremely challenging trying to navigate my way around different foods and I feel a little more education and accessibility in this sector would make people with allergens and intolerances feel much more comfortable when they’re eating out and about. 

I feel this change should be global, I have recently stayed in Amsterdam and the language barrier has proven massively hard when ordering food and making sure there is an understanding that I cannot consume certain foods. Even someone drinking from the same straw after they’ve eaten cheese/milk etc can make me poorly.

An option to select what allergens I have when ordering food online/on an app/via a food delivery app would make me - and I’m sure many others - much more at ease. Please help me in making this possible. 

- Kira