Law of Negligence and Duty of Care
The general principle is that you should not harm those people to whom you owe a duty of care by your acts or omissions. If you fail in the standard of care owed, you will be liable for your acts or omissions due to negligence.
It can be established that manufacturers/food business owners owe a duty of care to their consumers to supply safe products. In order to discharge their duty satisfactorily they are required to take all the steps a reasonable manufacturer in the same circumstances would have taken to ensure the safety of their products. Allergen related food poisoning is an example of a situation which could be dealt with under the common law of negligence. Both, the owner of food premises and employee(s) who was deemed negligent in preparing/serving the meal could be found liable.
Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, which prohibits food being sold if it is unsafe for the group of consumers for which it is intended. For example, it would be an offence to sell a peanut free sauce to people with a peanut allergy if the product actually contains groundnut oil.
