A council slapped a popular restaurant with a two-star food hygiene rating after launching an investigation when a toddler with a severe nut allergy was hospitalised.
The 18-month-old was taken by her family for a meal at fast-food chain Tim Hortons in Birmingham last month.
The tot's mother claimed she suffered a reaction following a trip the chain's Merry Hill branch. Her complaint was investigated by food safety officers at Dudley Council, who carried out an inspection last month.
They found serious problems inside the eatery, which had opened just a few weeks before the incident, BirminghamLive reports.
A report published following the inspection revealed the customer had informed a member of staff of her daughter's allergy when ordering the Timmies Minis ham and cheese melt, fries and Fruit Shoot on July 8.
However, she said no documentation was checked by the employee.
A spokesperson for Tim Hortons said it took the matter "extremely seriously" and provided additional food safety training at the Brierley Hill branch and reviewed processes across all other UK sites as a precaution.
The customer also had issues during a previous visit, according to the report.
It read: "It has also been brought to our attention that during a previous visit to the premises, the allergen information was requested by the complainant but was not handed over as it was being used by kitchen staff at the time."
The inspector said they were "disappointed to note that there were no documented procedures in place at the time of the inspection relating to allergen management, apart from a short section within the training manual".
Although all food handlers "complete a basic food hygiene course", the report said training was "not sufficient with regards to allergen management and information".
While gloves are worn by food handlers at all times and changed every 20 minutes when an alarm sounds, they were not changed before preparing food for a customer with an allergy.
The inspection also revealed that although employees washed their hands every 20 minutes, it was not specifically done prior to preparing a meal for a person with an allergy or intolerance. Both matters had now been addressed, according to the report.
Other concerns raised in the report included aprons not being changed by the food handler when preparing food for a customer with an allergy or intolerance, a lack of communication between servers and those preparing food and no checks being carried out on new supplies to look for changes in ingredients or allergen information.
There were also cross-contamination concerns due to open bags of sauces sitting in the walk-in chiller and just one set of tongs being used to handle bakery items, without being washed in between.
The report concluded: "The complaint this department received regarding a child suffering with an allergic reaction after eating from your premises, has been taken very seriously.
"According to the information on labels and the matrix the meal itself does not contain nuts, so I was concerned that this was due to cross contamination during food handling/preparation.
"A stop requirement was served at the time of the inspection, instructing you not to serve anyone with an allergy or an intolerance until, adequate procedures and controls have been put in place and have been agreed by an officer from this department."
A spokesman for Tim Hortons UK & Ireland LTD: “We were very concerned to hear about this situation. We have been in regular contact with the child’s family and are pleased that they are well and healthy, however we have taken the incident extremely seriously, providing additional training on food safety at Merry Hill and reviewing processes across all our UK sites as a precaution.
"We take the standards within all our restaurants very seriously and have had all our processes approved by a Primary Care Authority, which all our restaurants adhere to.
"Following the EHO report, we are working with the Primary Care Authority to update some of our documentation. We are confident that upon review on the next visit, our scores will reflect the high standards we implement.”
