There is vigorous discussion about the arrest of a waiter in Sherbrooke, Quebec after a man he served suffered an allergic reaction that could have killed him. Simon-Pierre Canuel had gone to a restaurant and told the waiter he was severely allergic to seafood.
He ordered a beef tartare, but was served a salmon tartare instead. He immediately became ill and had left his life-saving antidote in his car. Canuel says he went into anaphylactic shock and suffered a cardiac arrest that left him in a coma in hospital for several days.
Waiter may face criminal charge
Canuel filed an official complaint and police arrested the 22-year-old waiter who had served him. The waiter could be charged with criminal negligence. It’s believed this would be the first such case in Canada.
This has raised questions about whether it is fair to take the waiter to court and just how much responsibility restaurants should bear for ensuring they serve allergic clients safely. One restaurant industry representative said that if the case went ahead it would make restauranteurs reluctant to serve allergic customers in future.
People who have formal schooling in the food industry are trained to handle food allergies, but not all waiters and kitchen staff in Canada get formal instruction.
One in 13 Canadians suffers from a significant food allergy, according to a national study conducted by the McGill University Health Centre in 2012. Numbers are increasing but it’s not clear whether that is just a result of increased awareness and reporting.
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