A waiter in Quebec may be charged with criminal neglect after he served salmon to a guest who repeatedly told him he was allergic to all seafood.
According to this article from the Globe and Mail, the waiter was arrested after the guest went into anaphylactic shock, was hospitalized, and spent time in a coma. The guest apparently thought he was biting into beef tartare that turned out to be salmon tartare and within minutes was having trouble breathing and became unconcious.
According to the article, the guest repeatedly asked the waiter to communicate his allergy of seafood to the kitchen but the waiter did not.
As the article suggests, the surge of people who claim to have allergies in order to maintain a dietary regimen has caused servers to become more cavalier about following guest directives. That may be true, but as this story indicates, ignoring a guest’s allergy claim could land you in jail.