By Max Pearson

The government may soon force food manufacturers to label all their ingredients in what is being called “Natasha’s Law” after a girl who died of an allergic reaction in 2016.

Natasha Ednan-Laparouse died after eating a Pret A Manger baguette containing sesame seeds, something she was deathly allergic to. But she had no idea they were in there.

Now, two years later, the government has finally tabled a motion that will hopefully protect allergy sufferers from a similar fate.

The law may soon require pre-packaged food companies to label every single ingredient so that sufferers know precisely what they are eating.

Allergy UK, a charity dedicated to supporting those who suffer from allergies, says the number of people who suffer from allergies grew by 615% in the twenty years before 2012, with around 44% of British adults now suffering from at least one allergy.

Yet there are those saying that placing the cost of additional labelling on smaller firms may be too extreme, playing into the hands of larger corporations.

Charlie Hardy, who is herself an allergy sufferer as well as an allergy mum, says that more consideration should be given to those who have to deal with such conditions.

When people tell you to “just pack your own lunch” it shows how much society doesn’t understand about allergies, about how they work.”

“Why shouldn’t I be able to go to a food place and purchase a safe meal? Vegetarians are catered for, vegans are catered for, halal, kosher just to name a few. We didn’t choose to have these allergies.”