One of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's restaurants will be fined more than $12,000 after it served regular pasta to a customer with celiac disease, sickening her, according to news reports.
The Sun first reported on the incident, which occurred in 2011 when 38-year-old Kristy Richardson dined at Jamie's Italian in Porstmouth, U.K. Richardson has celiac disease -- which is a condition where the immune system reacts to gluten (found in wheat and some other grains), thereby causing damage to the small intestine -- and ordered non-gluten pasta.
The Telegraph reported that she asked three different staff members to make sure they served gluten-free pasta, but apparently she was still given regular pasta. As a result, she fell extremely ill with vomiting and nausea, according to news reports.
On top of that, she was on a transplant waiting list for a heart and lung, and had to be removed temporarily from it because she was so sick after eating the gluten, The Sun reported.
Ultimately, the restaurant pleaded guilty to "selling food not of the nature, substance or quality demanded by a purchaser," the Telegraph reported.
In 2006, McDonald's faced a similar lawsuit after it was found that their French fries had wheat and dairy in them, the Associated Press reported. That suit involved Debra Moffatt, an Illinois resident, who had celiac disease that was set off when she ate the gluten in the French fries.
"You cannot sell gluten-free french fries when they have gluten," Thomas Pakenas, Moffatt's lawyer, had told the AP.
But these days, it seems a lot of restaurants are moving in a more accommodating direction -- last year, Domino's pizza introduced a pie with a gluten-free crust. However, the company made sure to emphasize that they don't recommend people with full-on celiac disease eat it since it "cannot guarantee that each handcrafted pizza will be completely free from gluten," it said in a press release as reported by HuffPost Food. However, it could be a good option for people with milder gluten sensitivity, the company said.
Similarly, late last year, Dunkin' Donuts started testing out some gluten-free products that are individually wrapped.