Woman dies eating meal she ordered many times after restaurant changes menu

Alison Pickering, 23, a student at Tarleton State University, in Stephenville, Texas, went to a restaurant where she had "repeatedly" eaten but unbeknown to her they changed the ingredients for her dish

A woman with a nut allergy who went to eat at her regular restaurant as normal has tragically died after the menu was changed.

Alison Pickering took care with what she ate due to a peanut allergy and would avoid sauces and dips which may have contained nut extracts.

But the 23-year-old was eating at a restaurant she visited "repeatedly" while out on a date in May, 2023, a few days before she graduated from Tarleton State University, in Stephenville, Texas, when she became ill.

It was not the first time that she had ordered the meal and when she was given the mahi-mahi she was certain it was safe but sadly the restaurant had changed the recipe so that it now included peanut sauce.

When she became ill she used her Epipen and an ambulance came but she quickly deteriorated and died with her parents now wanting to spread awareness of the dangers from allergies.

Mislabelling food items can easily be done if not enough concentration is given to it and it can have devastating consequences said Alison's parents Joy and Grover Pickering.

"She would repeatedly go to the same restaurants and order the same dishes, you know. And that was a common thing," Mr Pickering told CBS News.

He continued: "She took a few bites, realized something was wrong. She did her Epipen. The ambulance came. She actually walked to the ambulance talking to them, but somewhere along the way things went downhill."

Alison passed away from the incident on May 12, 2023. She had gone into anaphylactic shock after ingesting the peanuts, according to her obituary. Her parents are looking to spread awareness about food safety especially at restaurants. In Alison's case, the wait staff weren't informed of the menu change.

Last year, the Texas Legislature passed the Sergio Lopez Food Allergy Awareness Act, named after Sergio Lopez who also died from unknowingly ingesting peanuts in 2014, reported the Irish Star.

The act requires food service establishments to increase allergy awareness by displaying posters that contain information about food allergies and how to respond to allergic reactions. It also requires "food training programs and the food manager certification exam to include food allergies as the subject."