are restaurants supposed to tell you when food has nuts in it?

Question

I went to a chinese yesterday and had a very nice chowmein with the exception that it had peanuts sprinkled in it. This was not advertised on the menu. I'm sure most of you don't care but i don't like nearly dying when i go to the chinese. Are they supposed to tell you if there are nuts in it? and what should i do to make sure they cange their menu?

Answer 1

There's no law that I know of for restaurants.

If you're very allergic to nuts, I recommend that you be proactive in your dining. They may not use nut meat, but you need to ask about peanut oil also. Peanut oil is common in Chinese restaurants, but also other cuisines too.

Answer 2

The restaurant is not required to state that certain dishes contain nut. Most restaurants will mention nuts on menus but that is a not required.
It is best if you have an allergy to ask the server if a certain dish comes with nuts. Usually nuts are add as a garnish so it would be easy to not put them on. Also a lot of asian food is made or garnished with nuts. So I would tell the server you are allergic to nuts once they come to your table.
My wife is also allergic and she always tells the server about her allergy once she comes to the table to take our drink order. Because some restaurants use nut flavored oils for salad dressing or cooking. Nuts are used as a breading on some items and peanut butter is used to make sauces sometimes.
I would say since you have the allergy you should be the one to inform the restaurant not the other way around especially with so many different allergies it would be almost impossible to list all of it on the menu.

Answer 3

There is no federal regulation requiring food service establishments to post signs regarding what ingredients are in their food items, some states and counties have adopted some form a standardized signs. Some people with allergic reactions to nuts of any kind, can become ill with even the slightest contact with nuts and nut byproducts. In my area, any establishment that produces food for consumption is required to post signs, even if the food they order doesn't containt any nuts, it does inform the consumer that the food item was manufacture in a plant that also produces nut products. Bottom line though is, there are ,illions of people that suffer from a variety of different food allergies, if it was required for each restaurant to post possible warning sgns, you would be reading a Novel, before you even got to the menu. Ask before ordering...never assume...

Answer 4

No. Even if you had asked they might not remember or know (waiters are not chefs) every ingredient used in the dishes. Matter of fact, most Chinese in the world would NOT know that "nuts" may be fatal to those allergic to it.

In your case, I'd suggest you make very sure to inform them NOT to use nuts in any form in the dishes you order. Unless it's required by law (like ingredients in canned food), the listing of ingredients in restaurant menus don't even need to state any item except the name of the dish. Those who are allergic to food items just have to be extra vigilant - that's all!

Answer 5

If you have food allergies to certain foods or nuts, you should also ask them if the item you are going to order has any of the items in them. You can't make a restaurant change their menu, but you have the right to question the ingredients so you make the Life or Death decision for yourself. Asian foods are known to contain peanut oils and nuts.
A good friend of mine who is allergic to nuts will always ask if
the food items has them.

Answer 6

No they are not obliged to tell you there are nuts in the food, you should have asked. I would have thought that someone with a nut allergy that could kill them as you state it could have, then a Chinese restaurants would be one of the last places you would eat, chicken satay, cashew nut dishes and etc etc............. It is quite obvious to most people that Chinese food contains nuts in some shape or form, they do most of their cooking with some sort of nut oil i think too.

Allergies are not a form of poisoning so you do not have any complaint to take up with them unless of course you had asked and they had said all of their food was completely and utterly nut free and that's not likely to happen in any restaurant.

Answer 7

If have an allergy to celery. I get anaphylaxis. All of my life whenever I eat out, I always take my epi-pen and I ask if the dish has celery in it and request that they go and check before ordering. It is my allergy and my responsibility and it is my health. The world should not be expected to accommodate me. You cannot expect them to change their menu. Yes I realize that may people have troubles with nuts but the responsible for your health lies on you. Asking a simple question could have avoided all the troubles.

Answer 8

Hi this is dangerous and really it should say on the menu that there is nut used in there meals, sometimes its not obvious to look at on the menu, it might say either on the back or the front dish from 1 - so many will contain nuts etc, So yep they are suppose to tell you and if its not listen any where in the menu then you have the right to complain as that could of killed you, they dont normally put buts on chow mein though.
So yep they are suppose to lable it somewhere and if they havent then I suppose if you want to go through the hassel then get the menu changed and get it sorted before someone actually dies.

Answer 9

No in the UK they're not obliged to tell you. The only thing they should tell you is if any of the ingredients are GM.
I'd avoid all Asian cuisine if you have a nut allergy - it's in all of them, especially Thai, and the same woks will be used to cook different meals, so traces of the nut will be on the cooking utensils anyway.

Answer 10

No, they are not required to tell you by law and I doubt you'll make them change their menu. When allergic to something, I always ask if there are any in the dish I am interested in. Never know what will be in who's version of something. I am allergic to cashews, but don't have a problem with other tree nuts, so I always ask.