A father whose teenage son died from an allergic reaction after eating at Byron Burgers has condemned the government for its failure to make restaurants include allergens on their menu.
Owen Carey, from East Sussex, died with his girlfriend by his side after eating dairy in a grilled chicken breast at Byron’s branch at the 02 Arena in Greenwich, south-east London, in April 2017.
Owen had been celebrating his 18th birthday and made staff aware of his allergies, but was not told the chicken was marinated in buttermilk.
Forty-five minutes after ingesting the dish, the teenager collapsed and was pronounced dead at St Thomas’s Hospital later that afternoon.
His family has been tirelessly campaigning to change the law to require restaurants to label the 14 regulated allergens on their menus with symbols, numbers or words.
But nearly ten years after Owen’s death, their calls have so far been ignored by successive governments.
The teen’s father, Paul Carey, told the Daily Mail: ‘We’ll never get Owen back. The only thing we can do is rest assured that it’s far less likely to happen to anyone else.
‘If you suffer from allergies, you live dangerously when you go out to eat in a restaurant. There are lots of other people out there who could die if they have the wrong thing in their food.’
Paul Carey with his son Owen, who died aged 18 after suffering from a severe allergic reaction to dairy
Owen collapsed 45 minutes after eating chicken at Byron Burgers and was pronounced dead at St Thomas’s Hospital the same day
He added: ‘The success for us would be knowing that we’ve done our bit to make sure it’s not going to happen again.’
Under Owen’s Law, businesses would have an obligation to provide written information about allergens. This could be in the form of symbols, numbers or words that represent the 14 major allergens on a menu, display board or on an app.
As things stand, restaurant staff can provide verbal information about allergens upon the customer’s request.
‘Owen was given assurances by the waiter that something on the menu was safe for him to eat, and it wasn’t,’ Mr Carey said.
‘If it had been the case that the allergens were written down on the menu, Owen would still be with us today.’
In December 2023, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) decided to support the family’s campaign to change the law. However, this can only be done by the government by changing the Food Information Regulations of 2014.
In March last year, the FSA issued guidance to the restaurant trade that includes stating the allergens in food in writing, at the point of ordering, without the customer having to ask.
Owen’s family has secured a meeting with Dame Angela Eagle, Minister of State for Food Security and Rural Affairs (Defra), on April 27 – where they will urge the government to make the guidance law.
‘We feel frustrated, disappointed, and we’re saying look, it’s going to be ten years next year that he died, and we’ve been running this campaign for several years,’ Mr Carey said.
‘We still want to have this made a law, and it’s only Defra that can make it into a law.
Owen had been celebrating his 18th birthday and made staff aware of his severe allergies
His family have been tirelessly campaigning to change the law around putting allergens on menus
His father said: ‘We’ll never get Owen back. The only thing we can do is rest assured that it’s far less likely to happen to anyone else’
Owen had been assured his chicken would be ‘plain grilled’ and therefore safe for him to eat
‘This has been going on long enough. The FSA are behind all this – if you’re regulatory agency is behind doing it, why can’t you just do it? That’s the challenge we’re trying to put towards the government.’
As well as the FSA, the Anaphylaxis UK charity also supports the family’s campaign.
Owen’s father is hoping for the change to be implemented on or before April 22, 2027, which will mark ten years since his son died.
On the day of the teen’s death, he had been assured his chicken would be ‘plain grilled’ and therefore safe for him to eat.
However, the chicken had in fact been marinated in buttermilk, to which Owen was severely allergic.
He only ate a small amount before quickly realising something was wrong.
The Owen’s Law website states: ‘His breathing became more and more restricted and he was using his asthma inhaler constantly as he and his girlfriend journeyed to London’s South Bank for what was supposed to be the second half of Owen’s celebratory day.
‘Forty-five minutes later, having arrived at the London Eye, Owen collapsed, having suffered a massive anaphylactic reaction. Paramedics and a team at St Thomas’ Hospital tried everything they could, but were unable to resuscitate him.’
A coroner ruled in 2019 that Owen was not told about allergens that led to his death.
Byron later updated its menu – which originally stated ‘Chicken – choose yours grilled or fried’, to ‘Chicken – marinated in buttermilk, choose yours grilled or fried’.
In a statement, former chief executive of Byron, Simon Wilkinson, said at the time: ‘Even though this happened two years before I was employed by Byron, I have personally taken the responsibility to improve all allergen procedures… I am very supportive of any improvements or changes that can be made across the industry to prevent further tragic accidental deaths from occurring and will work with the family accordingly.’
The Daily Mail has contacted Byron Burgers for comment.
