Who should ultimately be responsible if a person had a food allergy and a server or clerk messes up and serves that person the very item they are allergic to?

I don’t know. Honestly, it seems like tempting fate to eat at a seafood place when you’re allergic to shellfish. A bit like being allergic to dairy and going to an ice cream shop.

I agree with @Darth_Algar, and I have always been of the firm opinion that we are ultimately responsible for our own health and well-being when we can be.
I recognize that sometimes we can’t choose the restaurant, but there are very often choices that can be made that are safe without jeopardizing one’s health. The steamed veg, perhaps, or potatoes that are no where near a grill.
If you want a soda at a convenience store, buy the can or bottle of diet if you are diabetic. Research the ingredients of likely-to-be-found items before you go out. My friend is allergic to turmeric, he can’t have most commercial mustards.

It is way beyond the pay grade or duties of servers and clerks to be responsible for the health of customers, beyond seeing that the environment is basically safe. (Don’t leave those banana skins lying around!!)

In the other question, the OP stated in one of the comments, “The way I see it people with allergies or dietary restrictions have the responsibility to make sure those restrictions are met when they grab food from a convienience store or a resturaunt. Not the clerk’s.”

I wonder how the customer who has dietary restrictions or a health issue (such as diabetes or Celiac Disease, for example), should be responsible if they are told the coffee is decaf or the food has no sugar or gluten?

That said, if I were deathly allergic to something, where I’d end up in the hospital or possibly dead, I don’t know if I’d feel safe eating out and relying on someone else.

I used to work with a guy who worked part time at a gourmet grocery store. He was mad and quitting the part time job and he told me that on his last day, one of his tasks was to fill the large see-through canisters of coffee beans with the various types of coffee (regular, decaf, French roast, etc.). He put regular coffee all across the board into all of the canisters. Now if someone came in to purchase decaf beans, they’d really have no way of knowing whether or not the decaf canister held decaf beans.

I drink decaf Diet Coke, and if I have caffeine in the afternoon or evening, I’m not sleeping well. I don’t drink diet for any health issue, other than not wanting the extra calories from regular soda. I feel safer with diet from a bottle than from a fountain. It’s not usually an issue anyway because almost no fountains have diet decaf, except maybe Panera.

If I were deathly allergic to even a touch of shellfish, I definitely wouldn’t be eating in a shellfish restaurant.

@jca2 Yes, the OP on the other question did state it would not be the clerks fault. I believe someone else on that question insinuated it would be the clerks fault.

The person being served.
Life is a gauntlet of death wherever you go, whatever you do.

If a server lies about it, they should go to jail. But ultimately it’s on the person who has dietary restrictions to watch out for themselves, just like if a person buys a hair dryer it’s on them not to use it in the shower, not on the manufacturer.

If I had such severe dietary restrictions I would never eat out, never ever.

Think about how much food service workers make. Do you really want to roll the dice?

Personally, I think that we should be responsible for ourselves!!! I don’t understand why anyone with a food allergy so severe that another utensil touching it could kill them would even consider taking a chance that the cook or server is going to care enough to be precise when they are preparing the meal.

Especially with the person the OP references…WHY would anyone with a severe shellfish allergy go to a seafood restaurant to eat??? I’d stay home & cook my own food EXACTLY the way I need it cooked & still I’d worry that I’d contaminate something during the prep!!! If I was allergic to shellfish, I’d eat at a reputable steakhouse…maybe!!!

CTFD.

I have celiac and multiple food sensitivites. I am also a PhD student and mother of three. The notion that I should never attempt to eat out is absurd.

I ask, as politely as possible, about food prep and ingredients. If the server desires or the restaurant policy requires, I will talk to the manager or chef. Once they explain their processes and potential for cross-contamination, I decide whether it is safe for me to eat there. That is my responsibility. If they mis-represent their process or ingredients in any way, that is their responsibility.

If, at any time, any employee seems to not take me seriously or have no idea what I am talking about, I will not eat there. I will not make a big deal AT ALL (I think that is rude). I will happily sip on my water while others eat.

Could you DIE from any of those allergies? As in, a spatula even touches a shellfish and that spatula is used on your food, you die @Cupcake? That’s the kind of severe allergies we’re talking about when we say we’d never eat out.

No, but I can experience intense pain and be bed-ridden for weeks.

See, I just wouldn’t even chance it. No food is THAT important to me to take that risk.

Personal responsibility. It’s perplexing how some here feel it applies to customers but not employees: If an employee screws up it’s not their fault. It’s the fault of the customer who complains.

So, @Stache, the server asks the chef if a separate spatula is used for shellfish, the chef says yes, a new sous chef gets them a bit mixed up (have you ever worked in a restaurant kitchen during a dinner shift?) and the customer gets sick.
Honest mistake, there, understandable error.
And you don’t think the customer needs to take responsibility for playing a type of Russian roulette with their health?

The customer is not always right when it puts an unusual burden on the server/clerk/ business.

@Cupcake has to deal with these issues and seems to understand perfectly well how to work around this.

Even if clean utensils are used there is always the possibility of cross-contamination.

@Stache I never said the employee wasn’t at fault. I just don’t think that it should be the employee’s responsibility!!! With food allergies there is a huge degree of what could possibly go wrong & even IF the customer were cooking for themselves, they could easily screw up & contaminate their own meal. I can’t think of any food that I love so much that I’d trust a complete stranger to prepare it for me if I had food allergies!!!

My BFF’s grandson’s food allergy is so severe that his plates can’t be washed at the same time the other dishes are being washed. She washes his plates separately & then dips them in boiling water before sealing them in an air tight bag. Then she cooks his food first & stores it in covered containers so she can cook the rest of the meal. She scrubs her hands much like a doctor getting ready for surgery. He eats at a separate table so no other utensil might be able to touch his. He is being raised that he is NOT to even think about eating out & what restaurant has the time or patience to handle such a responsibility??? Although it is NOT his fault that he has the food allergy, he would be putting his own life in danger by eating out…therefore HIS responsibility to maintain his own health!!!

Even with all the precautions that she’s taken to keep that child safe, he has left her house & ended up in the hospital. Even the doctor’s can’t tell her what else she should do that would protect him any better. IF a grandmother’s love can’t keep him safe, a stranger will surely screw it up!!!