Potential allergy issue at local pub

Hello Galaxy at 1650 today....
I don't have any food allergies or intolerances at all but I'm vexed because I might have & the additional chilli jam could have been an issue to someone else!
As a preference I'd have loved Cranberry with it but, today I forgot to ask for that!
There was no menu available ...."we're a bit behind with getting our sandwich menus printed" said the waitress do we went with what we'd had last week!
I'm really trying to establish a principal here which might, for someone else, have been disastrous.
I hope this has clarified my query & thanks to all who've contributed their thoughts.

If you eat out, it’s quite normal for the cafe, pub or restaurant not to list every ingredient of every dish on the menu. If there are things you don’t eat or if you have a serious allergy, you say so before they prepare the food. Simple! All this posturing over a condition which the OP doesn’t even have is quite unnecessary.

I suffer from anaphylaxis to wheat,nuts ,wine and prawns and have been resuscitated following collapse. I haven't eaten out for a long time,pre pandemic and may not in the future. In the past I have phoned to see if I can be safely catered for and then on arrival again ask the waiter to talk to the chef to ask if he is happy to cook for me. Many have refused to take the responsibility,which is fine by me.But if they do agree I expect it to be completely safe. Mistakes have happened in the past resulting in collapse and blue lighted to hospital.
People with serious food allergies will triple check everything or will not eat out. Friends and family understand that I may just sit with coffee and a large glass of coke,without lime as allergic to that too !

I rigorously check when I eat out as I'm protein intolerant (no meat, fish or eggs.) Not an allergy, but enough to land me in A&E with renal problems.

The number of times I've checked and been told that no, they can guarantee that vegetarian meal has not been anywhere near anything that's meat, fish or eggs, and they have a dedicated vegetarian only fryer, only to double check and be told that they'd used the vegetarian fryer for cooking chicken nuggets a few days before and hadn't changed the oil! Cross contamination or what!

But if there is a relish added which isn’t advertised when it arrives or when you bite into it, you just call the waitress over and say I m sorry but I need it plain, then they take it away and bring you a plain one
It’s not poor service unless they don’t do that surely

It's a strange one, isn't it? I have a very complicated list of food intolerances and I have always found restaurants and cafes amazingly helpful as soon as I have alerted them. Because I can't eat wheat I will always check that they serve gluten-free before I go there as that is the one most places concentrate on. I will then explain it's not the gluten but wheat and that I can't have lactose either - but I carry lactose-free milk with me if I'm eating out which helps. Next comes the fact that I can eat onions or garlic. This often rules out gravy on a gluten-free roast for instance but, as long as the vegetables are served separately I can select the right amount of those I can eat. I won't go on but what I am saying is that I am a really difficult customer to accommodate but most places bend over backwards to try to help.

However, I would have been miffed to have been served your sandwich, not because I would be ill but because I don't like Chilli Jam. I think anyone with a problem would have either rung ahead or talked it through when they arrived so I wouldn't see it as an allergy problem - you would spot it and ask the question but I do think it is poor service.

Sorry can I just check that you are complaining about the potential for something to cause you an allergic reaction when you dont have an allergy.

I love chilli jam but I wouldn’t expect it to be automatically added to a sandwich. Plenty of people don’t like spicy food..

Can I just add bacon and Brie does normally come with a relish accompaniment usually cranberry so I think the pub was quite correct in using a relish in the sarnie
I m sure if you dislike any additions you could have asked for no relishes

It would be reasonable for the pub to mention Chilli Jam as an ingredient, but what about the ingredients to make it, it could have literally been anything.
Those with serious allergies would be far safer taking their own food, rather than expecting the caterer to cover everything.

In the case of allergies I think the customer should make it clear to the restaurant what he/she cannot tolerate.
I did send a bacon roll back once because they had put tomato sauce on it but that was just a preference nothing serious.

Anyone who has a strong, possible anaphylactic reaction to a foodstuff is diligently rigorous in checking. My grandson does he has epipens at home, school and we have one when he stays, all labels are double checked on foodstuffs. I agree with the waitress and your husband too.

It’s a tough one as so many people are allergic to so many things.
I would agree it is up to the customer to inform the kitchen.

I have a shellfish allergy but love fish, I once ordered a Dover sole dish, it arrived topped with prawns.
The waiter offered to remove the the prawns, he really didn’t get it!

I think if you have an allergy you would always double check that there was nothing that would hurt you My friend is celiac and when ordering even the simplest item she always checks just in case there is some sauce or adornment that she hasn’t bargained for My daughter has an intolerance to nuts ( not a full blown allergy) and she always checks to if it’s a dish or a place she hasn’t been to so I think your husband and the waitress is correct

I understand your concern totally! We should be able to order exactly what we ask for, providing the items are available of course. And you are right to be concerned about food allergies too.

In the event that I have a bacon or sausage sandwich/cob/roll, whatever it's called locally, I NEVER want butter on the bread but oh, the shock and disbelief from some of the service staff!