4 ms·

Ditto with the menus. If someone has dietary needs and they don't know names of all the ingredients in the local language, they're likely to end up at a global

• rsynnott 3y ago
  The EU _nearly_ solved this (or at least solved for 99% of cases) by mandating 14 allergens (or, well, problem ingredients; gluten and dairy are more likely to be intolerance issues than actual allergies) which must be declared. They then fumbled this by not specifying a canonical ordering; number 7 is _usually_ dairy, say, but the ordering is not actually mandated. So you still need to know the local language. (My personal favourite quirky use of the fact that there is no mandated order is by a Kosher deli in Dublin; they don't have numbers for dairy, crustaceans or mollusks because, well, it's Kosher so I suppose it can be assumed. They use the free'd-up address space to call out wheat, rye, barley and oats, which is going beyond the obligation; these can all be grouped together).
  • thayne 3y ago
    Still way better than the US, where if you ask about an allergen you usually have to wait while they look up ingredients, and hope they aren't careless about it, and sometimes just get "we don't know".
    • myself248 3y ago
      That's been my experience at local shops in the US, but if I go into a big chain I know that what I'm getting is the stuff whose ingredients I looked up on the corporate website earlier.
  • tristor 3y ago
    Unfortunately my allergen isn't on the list and is a common food ingredient. I know how to say it, read it, and write it in 22 languages, because I have traveled extensively and it's critically important to know. The EU system is nice, but insufficient.