A national campaign calling for stricter labelling on food and drink has been launched in memory of a 14-year-old Lewisham boy who died of anaphylactic shock in 2019 after eating popcorn at the cinema.
In 2018 Ruben Bousquet, from Lee, went to Greenwich Odeon cinema with his father and ordered his usual sweet popcorn and drink, asking if it was safe to eat due to his lactose intolerance. Just 30 minutes later he was dead from anaphylactic shock. It was later established there were traces of cow’s milk in the manufacturing process.
The campaign has been launched by his mother, Judith Bousquet, is called “Judith’s Wish“, in partnership with Allergy UK and is the charity’s first in a decade to call for better labelling of food.
Ruben went to Bonus Pastor Catholic College in Bromley and played ice hockey for his club, the London Knightz.
Bousquet said: “I believe that if there were a more rigorous process to labelling across the whole food supply chain, Ruben may still be with us today. Full disclosure of ingredients accurately recorded and checked at every stage of the production and supply process is vital because it is this which enables people with food allergies to make safe food choices.”
“As a society, we simply don’t take allergies seriously enough for everyone to understand the role we all can play in helping those living with food allergies to stay safe.”
Allergy UK also hosted a Christmas Carol Concert entitled “Judith’s Wish”, which was livestreamed on YouTube. It featured live performances by a choir and a reading of Ruben’s poem, “Hope Still Remains”. The concert aimed to draw focus to the risk of allergies at a time of year that is centred on social gatherings based on food.
Food businesses are not required by law to put a full ingredient list on packaging, according to the Food Standards Agency.
They instead must provide “information about the use of allergenic ingredients in a food.”
The wording used on food packaging such as “free-from” and “vegan” does not mean that the food is 100% free from the allergen as there is no robust system to confirm this claim across the whole supply chain.
The food may not necessarily be safe to consume and can be fatal if you have a severe allergic reaction.
The current labelling system is “potentially misleading” according to the Prevention of Future Deaths report that was published this week, following the death of Celia Marsh in 2017. She had eaten a wrap bought from a branch of the Pret A Manger chain labelled as “vegan” but which was contaminated with milk protein.
Research from The British Medical Journal shows that NHS hospital admissions due to allergic reactions have increased by 179 per cent in the past twenty years.
The CEO of Anaphylaxis UK, Simon Williams said that “The tragic death of Ruben Bousquet was heart-breaking to hear and cases like this highlight why we need to continue to raise awareness of serious allergies and do everything we can to prevent future deaths.”
Donations can be made to “Judith’s Wish” here to help further the campaign on stricter labelling processes and to support families living with allergic diseases.
To get advice from professional clinicians and dieticians on allergies, call Allergy UK’s national helpline at 01322619898
