Should grapes be banned?

stickywicket

I've just read that, following the death of a toddler, who choked on a grape in their restaurant, a Pizza Hut in Hartlepool has taken grapes off their menu.

As a mother and grandmother my heart goes out to the poor parents of the little lad and, as someone who has almost choked on several occasions owing to neck and oesophageal problems, I know it's nasty and scary for all concerned.

But...

...for the Pizza Hut to take grapes off the menu :?

All foods are capable of causing choking.

Pizza has probably caused more deaths than grapes.

Is this – no pun intended – overkill or am I utterly insensitive?

barbara12

Totally agree...my middle GD choked on a piece of cheese.thankfully she recovered...it is very sad..but it wouldn't make sense to ban them..

theresak

I just can't see how you can ban every item of food on which a child may choke. It's very sad, of course, and I worried whenever grapes were eaten by my grandsons when they were a lot younger.

My oldest grandson almost choked on spaghetti about three years ago in an Italian restaurant. The staff stood around panicking while our daughter-in-law dealt with him.

Slosh

Of course not, however we ban them from a couple of classes at school but for the very good reason that one of our pupils is severely allergic to them, and as not only does he love them but is severely autistic it causes a lot of problems if he sees them. That is a very different case. I did see a sensible suggestion on FB that they are cut in half if people are really concerned and especially for young children.

GraceB

I think it's over the top as well.

I've also heard the "cut them in half" suggestion. As others have said, you can choke on anything, it doesn't have to be grapes.

Still devastating for the parents though. And so sad.

GraceB

bubbadog

I do agree that they shouldn't be banned and think if Pizza hut did cut the grapes in half it would be better. But as a lot of you have said you can choke on a lot of foods. I sometimes get one of my meds stuck in my throat and have to guzzle a lot of water to get it down. Adults as well as kids can get food stuck in there throat.

frogmorton

They shouldn't be banned no, but my biggest problem in pizza-h*t is that the salad is situated perfectly at child's height and unsupervised children sneezing all over it...which I have witnessed....gross

Seriously I have 'saved' Charley, (spaghetti), and a service user, (sausage) so anything is a potential choking hazard.

About 2 months ago my husband 'saved' me!! a chip! :oops:

I still feel a huge wave of fear when I thought no-one could help

Maybe more of us ought to be trained in first aid??

Love

Toni xxx

tkachev

A similar case happened when a child, being wheeled in a trolley in a supermarket choked on a grape the mother had given them. Parents do need to be aware.

My Daughter choked on mozarella in a pizza shop. Thankfully her Dad came to the rescue but it was a frightening experience. I now worry if the kids eat pizza and never buy the mozarella cheese ones at all.

Elizabeth x

mig

Has the world gone mad,you could choke on your own spit.Mig

My sincere sympathies to the parents for their tragic loss.

villier

Definitely not, as everyone says you can choke on anything. Condolences to the parents it must have been a horrific and traumatic time for them xx