Just Eat in the firing line over allergens and hygiene

Just Eat is facing censure after it emerged that a number of restaurants listed on the food delivery site were giving out incorrect information about allergens.

A BBC Panorama investigation, which aired on 14 January on BBC One, also uncovered the fact that more than 100 restaurants on Just Eat were found to have hygiene ratings of zero. A number of these restaurants were labelled as ‘Local Legend’, a term denoting the supposed “crème de la crème” of takeaways in a particular area.

UK food businesses are legally required to provide information about 14 major allergens, but the food delivery giant doesn’t require restaurants to provide any allergen information on their app or website, and customers are expected to contact the restaurants directly if they have allergies.

The Panorama team highlighted a number of instances where staff at restaurants listed on Just Eat gave out incorrect, and potentially ‘life-threatening’, information concerning allergens in food.

Shirley Cramer CBE, the Chief Executive of the Royal Society for Public Health, said: “The food hygiene rating system is vastly important for us understanding how good a restaurant is. I don’t think in anybody’s mind [a zero-rated restaurant] would be a local legend.”
Just Eat told Panorama: “We are investigating how this has happened to stop this from happening again.” ‘The company also said that it had already offered further support and training in response to the revelations that some restaurants were not providing accurate allergens information.