A bride narrowly avoided a serious incident on her wedding day after being given a wedding cake containing “potentially deadly” traces of nuts and pieces of plastic.
The problem was only discovered when staff at the venue went to cut the cake, finding it was the wrong colour and had imperfections on the icing when it was delivered on the day of the wedding.
Baker pleads guilty to food safety charges
Faye Selway, of the Natural Cake Company in Wadebridge, Cornwall, pleaded guilty at Bodmin Magistrates Court to four charges under the Food Safety Act 1990 and the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013.
The case was brought by Cornwall Council following a complaint from a customer relating to plastic contamination in a wedding cake supplied by Selway in April of this year.
Kitchen staff at the wedding venue discovered pieces of plastic between the icing layers when the cake was cut to serve to guests. As a result, the cake was not served for fear that further pieces of plastic could pose a health risk.
Nut-free promise broken
The customer contacted Cornwall Council after Selway refused to provide a refund. On investigation, it was discovered that Selway, aged 49 and of Glen Road, Wadebridge, had given the customer both written and verbal assurance that the cake would be nut free and made in a completely nut free environment at her cake studio. This was vital because one of the brides has a severe nut allergy and had previously been hospitalised with anaphylaxis.
Further investigations revealed that the cake was not made in the studio, but in a domestic kitchen, which could not provide the nut free environment that was crucial to the brides. The court heard Selway vacated the cake studio nine months before taking the order, knowing it would not be made in a dedicated studio.
Neither the cake studio nor Selway’s domestic kitchen were registered with Cornwall Council as a food business, which is required by law, and therefore had not been subjected to food safety interventions, including allergen control and assessing allergen claims.
Council warns of life-threatening consequences
Selway had been advised in writing by the council, when she was considering setting up the cake studio, that she would need to register as a food business if she pursued the venture. The council said that had the plastic not been in the cake and it had been served at the wedding, the potential for nut contamination could have had catastrophic results.
The magistrates, in line with sentencing guidelines, fined Selway £896 and ordered her to pay the council’s costs of £3,067, totalling £3,963.
Nick Kelly, group leader for food safety, health and safety and port health at Cornwall Council, said: “The legislation around allergens in food are there to ensure consumers have accurate advice to enable them to make an informed decision in respect of the foods they consume. In this case, the misleading information could have had life threatening consequences.”
Councillor Thalia Marrington, cabinet member with responsibility for community safety and public protection at Cornwall Council, added: “This case highlights the importance of ensuring businesses provide accurate information in relation to the foods they sell. Making misleading claims is totally unacceptable and in instances like this can be life threatening to the consumer. When businesses blatantly disregard their legal obligations and put their customers at risk, we have no choice but to take action.”
