North Texas — Alison Pickering, who was twenty-three years old, was aware of the danger of peanuts.
Her family made the finding after she returned home from preschool with hives.
“She answered, ‘Well, a buddy of mine shared with me a chocolate Jiff sandwich.’ And I was like, ‘Oh!'” recounts her mother, Joy Pickering, “and it was clear she had a peanut allergy.”
“She would feel it in her lips and throat, so we’d go to the ER,” her father, Grover Pickering, explained.
Fortunately, those visits to the hospital were uncommon.
“She was always very cautious. “She rarely ate cookies that were not mine,” Joy Pickering explained.
Her parents said she was cautious as she planned a first date only days before graduating from Tarleton State University in Stephenville last year.
They said Alison chose a restaurant she had previously visited. She ordered the mahi-mahi, which she had previously eaten there.
“She’d go to the same restaurants and get the same foods, you know. “That was a common thing,” her father explained.
According to the Pickerings, Alison and the wait staff were unaware that the formula had changed. Peanut sauce had been added.
“She took a few bites, and realized something was wrong,” said Grover Pickering. “She used her EpiPen. The ambulance arrived. She did walk to the ambulance and chat to them, but somewhere along the road, things went wrong.”
Alison never awoke.
“It’s tragic and it doesn’t need to happen to anyone else,” he told reporters.
Raising awareness about food allergies.
The Pickerings are now on a mission to raise awareness about the severity of food allergies.
“We’d like to see more done to make wait staff and customers aware,” said Joy Pickering.
Last year, the Texas Legislature approved the Sergio Lopez Food Allergy Awareness Act, which aimed to increase training and communication among restaurant kitchen staff.
The Pickerings advocate for clear, consistent communication in restaurants and extensive training for all restaurant employees. They are also interested in cooperating with the Texas Restaurant Association.
“To determine what guidelines could be put in place to help restaurants have better communication to their customers as far as ingredients, much like labels on grocery store items you buy,” according to Grover Pickering.
They are confident that their message will save others from the same fate.
“I know we’re going to save lives by doing this,” Joy Pickering said.
