Samara Lebanese and Mediterranean fined for accidentally serving fatal hommus

A restaurant has been fined for serving a man hommus that ultimately led to his death.

A popular restaurant south of Sydney has been fined $105,000 over a fatal error which led to the death of a man with a sesame allergy.

Samaras Lebanese and Mediterranean Restaurant at Wollongong was fined in the Supreme Court of NSW on Wednesday morning after it was found the restaurant served a father-of-two hommus that caused him to have an anaphylactic shock and die.

Nathan Anderson went to the popular restaurant on October 27, 2017 after a golf day with friends, according to Supreme Court Justice Clifton Hoeben’s decision.

Nathan Anderson died after he was served a fatal dose of hommus at a restaurant south of Sydney.

Sitting at the table, Mr Anderson’s mates made fun of his allergies leading the owner of the restaurant’s daughter, Alyca Nemer, to ask what he was allergic to.

“At that time, Ms Nemer was one of two persons in the defendant’s organisation who was qualified as a Food Safety Supervisor and who was responsible for managing food safety in the operation of the restaurant,” the judge’s decision reads.

“ (Mr Anderson) advised that he was allergic, inter alia, to peanuts, shellfish, eggs and sesame seeds.”

Mr Anderson was served hommus by Ms Nemer who didn’t know it had tahini in it made out of sesame seeds.

Ms Nemer made a special entree plate for Mr Anderson with hommus, eggplant, capsicum and pickles.

“Upon taking one or two bites of the bread dipped in the hommus from the plate served to him by Ms Nemer, (Mr Anderson) made complaint about discomfort, stood up from the table and left the restaurant,” the decision read.

“He was followed by his cousin, Ben.

“(Mr Anderson) and Ben walked briskly down Corrimal St towards the accommodation in which the deceased was staying.

“About 150 metres from the restaurant, Ben noticed that the deceased’s condition had deteriorated in that he was struggling to breathe and appeared to be panicking.

“Ben assisted the deceased to sit on a set of stairs and to remove his jumper. The deceased then collapsed onto the footpath.”

Mr Anderson got up from his table at Samaras and went outside, heading for his nearby hotel where he had left his epi-pen.

An ambulance was called just before Mr Anderson went into cardiac arrest before he was taken to Wollongong Hospital.

Despite treatment Mr Anderson died three days later.

As a result of testing, it was established that he developed anaphylaxis from the sesame paste in the hommus.

“The hommus served by Ms Nemer to (Mr Anderson) included tahini, a paste made from sesame seeds,” the decision read.

“In her statements Ms Nemer said that she did not consider the presence of a derivative of sesame seeds in the hommus served to (Mr Anderson).

Mr Anderson left Samaras Lebanese and Mediterranean Restaurant before collapsing in the street.

“Her failure was in relation to not recalling the nature of what food items constituted hommus. “While she had carefully excluded sesame seeds from the food, including avoiding cross-contamination, she had forgotten the presence of sesame seeds as a component of tahini which was a primary component of hommus.”

A NSW DPI spokesman said the finding of the Supreme Court sends a strong message to restaurants around the state that in some cases, food safety can have life or death consequences.

“The NSW Government, through the NSW Food Authority, has a number of protection measures in place in order to reduce the risk faced by people living with food allergies, including a mandatory training module in food allergen management through the Food Safety Supervisor for retail food businesses in NSW.

“The circumstances of this case are truly tragic and our thoughts are with the grieving family of the deceased.”