World-leading medical professionals and allergy experts are meeting in Jersey to improve the lives of those with food allergies.

Dominic Jones, the co-founder of the Jersey Food Allergy Group and CEO of JPRestaurants, wants more regulations introduced in Jersey to improve the quality of life for people living with allergies.

Currently, cafes and restaurants do not have to give customers allergen information.

Mr Jones has a young child with severe food allergies:

"If you speak to anyone to anyone who suffers from food allergies, or a parent of a child who does, the idea that a peanut can kill your child creates enormous anxiety.

"It affects everyday life, going to the supermarket, and having to turn over every single packet, [or] when you go to a friend's home or the child goes to a party and having to navigate the situation of what the child is going to eat."

Almost 100 countries worldwide have policies to protect people. Mr Jones says Jersey is 'significantly' behind.

However, the government said this week it is 'keen' to make progress as soon as possible and laws are expected to be brought in next year (2025), subject to the States' approval.

Mr Jones also says he would like to see the hospitality sector normalising asking people whether they have allergies or not before serving them, something he says is already done more widely in the UK.

"We make accommodations for people in wheelchairs, we make accommodations for people who are neurodiverse, and (the group) feels we need to be doing the same thing for people with food allergies.

"We don't have to reinvent the wheel. There’s a standard process across many countries around the world, particularly the EU and the UK, that we can follow."

Government ministers, health professionals, industry experts, and members of charities will be at the Food Allergy Conference at Banjo's on 18 November.

People suffering from allergies will also be there to advocate for change by sharing their stories with others attending.

Mr Jones says more regulation, awareness and training can stop avoidable deaths.

"We've seen these dreadful news stories in the UK of young people and children who have died as a result of exposure to food allergies.

"Many of those deaths in the UK could have been avoided had there been better awareness and better training.

"If you look at some of the cases -some of the recent high-profile ones - they were either due to a lack of regulation or lack of following process and training. Little, tiny things make a big difference."

Environment Minister Steve Luce

Areas of regulation the government is considering include the licensing of food businesses, new labelling requirements and enhanced food hygiene and safety requirements.

Environment Minister Deputy Steve Luce told the States this week that he could not give an exact date when the law would be lodged.

"I can only apologise to the Assembly for not having more information on this issue.

"We have spent some time and will continue to do so in the coming weeks about the prioritisation of the amount of time we have with law drafters."