Food Allergy Claims – Restaurants, Takeaways, Supermarkets and Cafes

You told them. They served it anyway. That is the moment most of our clients describe, and it is usually the business’s responsibility, not yours. A food allergy claim is a personal injury claim against the business, and its insurer usually pays.

1. 1You told the staff about your allergy, or relied on a menu, allergen chart or label that showed the food as safe.
2. 2The food contained that allergen.
3. 3You had a reaction, from a rash or swelling to anaphylaxis, even without going to hospital.
4. 4It happened in England or Wales, and you are an adult.

How serious your reaction was affects how much your claim is worth, not whether you can claim.

Not sure if your situation fits? Ring 0800 652 0586 and we will tell you whether we can take your claim on, and if we cannot, we will say so.

The 14 allergens food businesses must be able to tell you about are celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs, mustard, tree nuts, peanuts, sesame, soya and sulphites.

If you told the staff about an allergy that is not on that list, the business still had to take reasonable care once it knew.

It is different if the menu or the staff warned that a dish contained the allergen, or might, and you ate it anyway. That can reduce or defeat a claim, and we will tell you if it applies. For a packaged product from a shop, the claim may be against the producer or the seller.

Booking notes, messages, app orders, anyone who was with you and the restaurant’s own order tickets all help, and your own account is evidence too. A failure between the front of house and the kitchen is the restaurant’s problem, not yours. Our guide to restaurant allergy claims goes through the usual defences.

Many reactions are treated at home or by a pharmacist or GP. If you used an adrenaline pen, that is emergency treatment, even if you were not admitted to hospital. A GP, NHS 111 or pharmacy record helps. We will look at whether we can take your claim on. No charge, no obligation.

The person who served you pays nothing. Public liability insurance is not compulsory, so we check at the start whether the business has it. Many clients tell us they claimed partly so the business would take allergens more seriously for the next customer.

The business can be anywhere in England or Wales. If a medical report is needed, it is usually a short video appointment with an independent GP.

Court proceedings being issued means the claim is formally started at court, usually because the insurer will not agree. It is not the same as a hearing, and most issued claims still settle without one.

Why 10%? Most of our claims settle without going to court, so there is less work to pay for. And with just two of us running the firm, our costs are low. So we do not need to take 25%.

Nothing up front. If your claim succeeds, nothing comes out of your compensation apart from our fee, except the other side’s costs if you turn down a formal offer and do not beat it at court (see the next answer). We do not add VAT on top. How our fee works, in full.

Insurance for the other side’s costs (after the event insurance): not with us as standard. It is your choice, and for most food allergy claims we do not recommend it. In our experience, some firms add it to every claim. Ask before you sign. If you lose, the court’s rules usually protect you from paying the other side’s costs. That protection is lost if a court finds you were dishonest about something central to your claim.

The full detail on charges is on our no win no fee hidden costs page.

1. 1What you keep. With us, 90% when your claim settles before court proceedings are issued.
2. 2Who runs it. Chris Carter or David Healey, personally.
3. 3What clients say. 256 five-star Google reviews.
4. 4How often. We have run food allergy claims for many years, and acted for the claimants in both reported cases on this page.

Of 94 personal injury firms we checked in April 2026, 3 publish a specific fee. Ask any firm you are considering the same four questions.

Carter and Carter Solicitors is deliberately small. There are two of us, and both of us have only ever done personal injury work. One of us deals with your claim after the first call, through to the day you are paid. There is no call centre and no junior, and you have your solicitor’s direct line and email.

Chris Carter, Managing Solicitor, qualified 1993, and David Healey, Senior Solicitor, qualified 2005.

Your health comes first: use your adrenaline pen if you need it and call 999. The NHS advises calling 999 whenever an adrenaline pen has been used, even if you start to feel better. Once you are safe, these steps make the biggest difference to a claim.

1. 1Get your treatment recorded. A&E, ambulance, GP, NHS 111 or pharmacy records all count as medical evidence. Keep the used adrenaline pen.
2. 2Keep proof of where you ate: the receipt, bank or card statement, booking confirmation or app order.
3. 3Photograph the menu or allergen chart, the label or packaging, the dish, and your symptoms before they fade.
4. 4Write down what you said, who you said it to, what they told you, and who was with you.
5. 5Email the business to tell it about the reaction. That gives you a dated record, even weeks later.

What we obtain for you: the allergen information for the dish, the order and booking records including any allergy notes, the business’s allergen procedures and staff training records, and a short medical report from an independent GP, usually by video. Few people have every piece. Kept nothing? A bank or card statement shows where and when you paid.

Tell us what you have on 0800 652 0586 and we will tell you whether it is enough to start.

The three years are the time to start court proceedings, under section 11 of the Limitation Act 1980. There are some exceptions. Most claims settle long before the deadline, and the sooner you start, the easier the evidence is to get: CCTV is often recorded over within weeks, staff move on and online menus change. Why we don’t take claims close to the time limit.

Under the Food Information Regulations 2014, a restaurant, café, takeaway or caterer must be able to tell you which of the 14 major allergens are in each dish, in writing or in person, as long as it makes clear how to ask. In Wales, the Food Information (Wales) Regulations 2014 apply. Since October 2021, Natasha’s Law (the Food Information (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2019), and the matching rules in Wales, have also required food packed on the premises before you order it, such as a café sandwich, to carry a full ingredients list with the allergens emphasised.

A general line on a menu saying nothing can be guaranteed does not, on its own, stop a claim: a business cannot use a notice to exclude its liability for personal injury caused by its negligence (Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 65).