An Edinburgh woman was left unwell after being served nutella at the Edinburgh Christmas market.
Mozma Ahmed, 25, has a severe allergy to peanuts, tree nuts and sesame. She went along to the Christmas markets on Sunday December 18 and ordered mini pancakes, requesting milk chocolate, and made her allergy known to the staff member.
However, speaking to Edinburgh Live , the social media executive from Edinburgh explained how she just took one bit and instantly realised the topping was nutella.
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"I told the woman she had given me nutella and she said 'there was no difference'. Well there is a difference, the difference is between life and death, obviously! She just had no clue."
"What if this had been a child or someone else who has a later reaction?"
She was left feeling frustrated as she tried to explain to the staff member that there was a clear difference in the toppings, and one that would soon leave Mozma really unwell for the rest of the night.
Mozma, who has to carry an epipen with her, explained how when she confronted the staff member, the server started shouting at her. She added: "I felt uncomfortable, I was put in an uncomfortable situation because someone was ignorant and had lack of understanding. I have these allergies, I know what it feels like, she doesn't!"
After she got a refund, Mozma walked away and was faced with a man who claimed he was the manager. She explained the situation and said she received a response of "What do you want me to do about it?"
"I want him to train his staff," Mozma expressed, "I didn't want him to fire her, but he should go and train his staff, give them or warning or something."
The social media executive wrote a Facebook post raising awareness of how seriously request around food when concerning allergies and intolerances should be taken. She said: "I have worked in a restaurant before and I am aware that any UK food businesses must inform customers if they use any of the 14 allergens as ingredients in the food and drinks they provide. Nutella falls under tree nuts.
"Therefore, a person who is trained should know not to give Nutella when a customer asks for milk chocolate, as this is misleading and a breach of regulations.”
She added that while mistakes can happen, it was the lack of apology and understanding that left Mozma feeling frustrated.
She told Edinburgh Live: "After that, I just wanted to go home, I was over the situation. By the time I got home, my whole body started itching, I didn't even realise until my sister pointed out my face had gone red and swollen - and I knew 'oh that's it. It's started'.
"I was covered in hives, I had difficulty breathing at times, and felt really nauseous and was actually sick in the night. At one point in the evening, I did consider using my epipen but luckily I didn't need to. This was just after one bite.
"I am really sensitive [to tree nuts and peanuts] but the thing it other people could be worse. I obviously noticed it really quickly, but someone else might not, keep eating, and then could end up in a hospital."
The experience, she explained, has put her off from going back to Christmas market in Princes Gardens. Mozma went on: "Nothing like this has happened before. People have made mistakes, but they owned up and said 'sorry' and it was fine, but no one has ever said 'there's no difference'.
Edinburgh’s Christmas organisers said “We take the wellbeing and safety of our customers extremely seriously. We are in touch with Ms Ahmed and are investigating the incident.”
According to the Food Standards Agency: "In the UK, food businesses must inform you under food law if they use any of the 14 allergens as ingredients in the food and drink they provide. This list has been identified by food law as the most potent and prevalent allergens.
The 14 allergens are: celery, cereals containing gluten (such as barley and oats), crustaceans (such as prawns, crabs and lobsters), eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs (such as mussels and oysters), mustard, peanuts, sesame, soybeans, sulphur dioxide and sulphites (at a concentration of more than ten parts per million) and tree nuts (such as almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, brazil nuts, cashews, pecans, pistachios and macadamia nuts)."
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