Firm sold product with nuts to allergic customer

A small business owner has been fined for serving products containing nuts to a customer with a severe allergy.

Samantha Brauner, the owner of Smalls Kitchen in Derby, sent an online order of protein balls to a customer in May 2024, triggering an allergic reaction.

Derby City Council Trading Standards said the customer had repeatedly asked if the products contained nuts, but Brauner said they did not.

At Southern Derbyshire Magistrates' Court on 30 June, Brauner, 36, pleaded guilty to two charges and was fined more than £7,200.

Trading Standards said Brauner, of Alport Heights in Oakwood, Derby, narrowly escaped a custodial sentence due to her early guilty plea to supplying unsafe food with undeclared allergens, and selling food which was not of the nature, substance, or quality demanded by the purchaser.

She was fined £1,920, ordered to pay costs of £4,515, and given a victim surcharge of £768.

Regulatory services lead councillor Shiraz Khan said the sale "could have had disastrous consequences" and that the prosecution "serves as a reminder to other businesses that they need to take their allergen management responsibilities seriously".

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