by Grace Macrae, reporter

Two men have been charged with manslaughter over the death of teenager Megan Lee, who suffered a severe allergic reaction to a takeaway meal in Lancashire. 

This comes after a similar incident prompted Michael Gove to urge food businesses to take voluntary action to improve their food allergen labelling.       

In light of the tragic deaths the Kent Farmers Market association, who has operated nearly one thousand markets in the county, with the leading one located in Shipbourne, has been quick to update the allergen advice they provide to stallholders on their website.  

Chief coordinator Bob Taylor spoke to us about the effect the news had on the way his markets are run.    

“I think the key thing really is if a big organisation like that can go wrong, then obviously with very small organisations like ourselves it’s that much more difficult, we take it extremely seriously and we’ve again informed all our stallholders that they must recheck and check again.”  

The Association takes all allergen labelling advice from Kent County Council Trading Standards, and the market coordinator increased communication with the regulator after hearing the tragic news:  

“I actually talked to trading standards in KCC after the death and I was also pointed to other websites with information which is now on our website as well. Again, it was mainly information which was already there, but really describing it in a more realistic fashion, especially for our producers.