Reading another thread about food labeling, the word Allergy came up. It made me think, I wonder what people here think.

Is it the responsibility of the parent or person ordering the cake, (in the case of a child, or relative), to inform or ask about ingredients that could cause allergies in the product? Or do you feel even a slight bit of responsilibity to ask if there are any, especially if someone wants peanuts etc.?

Just interested to see what people think.

Most ppl who have allergies are going to tell you when they order a cake. They are very aware of it. I would probably just ask if there are any allergies, but I never even thought about it myself except that I did a cake for my daughters bird camp group at our local Audubon chapter and the lady running it made a comment that she couldn't have any b/c of egg and nut allergies.

Unless the person ordering mentions it, I would just assume there were no allergies. But I would also be sure to clearly label all the ingredients, just incase.

Then again, if your area seems to be prone to allergies, it also might be a good idea to ask during the ordering process.

In november, I had made cake balls for a "Jack & Jill" party and some of them had Amaretto and others had no alchool. I took the time to mark each section and I was happy I did cause one lady that had a nut allergy thanked me for marking it cause she would have had an attack.

Now, I am making a wedding cake for the same couple in a few weeks and they requested Hazelnut as one of the fillings and I reminded them about that lady and they changed the filling.

I have found that it is one of the first questions I ask when they ask for cakes. If they know if anyone at the party would possibly have allergies. I figure it's a two second question.... and I don't need to worry or feel bad if someone did and I was the cause of it.

I agree with the other answers...Most people who have allergies especially serious food allergies always ask or mention it first.I do quite a few dairy-free and wheat- free cakes and the customers always tell me first.If nothing is mentioned..I also assume there is no problems.I think because food allergies such as PEANUT allergies have become so predominate especially in the schools etc...most parents of those such children are very vigulant about inquiring beforehand!!

People with serious food allergies do not eat foods with unknown ingredients.

I know the state laws differ, but I thought labeling ingredients was part of state law for selling prepard foods?

My son is allergic to practically every fruit with the exception of strawberries, all nuts, and other numerous foods. I always made it a point to ask what was in the foods he ate and now that he is grown up, he's learned to ask also.

My experience is that people don't always think, at least not about other children that might be coming to their childrens party, if they might have allergies. I agree that people should tell you, and I agree with labeling, but people see cake sometimes and don't think about allergies. Some parents are just anxious to drop their child off at parties anymore, and don't tell anyone that their child has a certain allergy.

At the same time you have to be cautious, you can't always know what other people should be thinking about. Unless you make it a standard practice to ask each person when they want to order a cake or whatever you offer, I don't think that the baker will think abotu this all the time either.

I don't always ask, but I have had a couple tell me that a child will be there with allergies. I've added a line to my written quotes that says:

"unless otherwise noted, this product contains no nut ingredients, however, I cannot guarantee a nut-free status"

I've never had a problem (and yes, the child ate some of the cake... because I bake from scratch (so I can say for certain what is in the cake), and I washed EVERYTHING by hand thoroughly (after I ran them through the sani-wash cycle of my dishwasher) a second time before I used it on these cakes)

i always ask when making/taking an order. id rather be safe and than sorry.. i also clearly mark everything so that everyone knows whats it in.

My grand children and myself have food allergies and we make it a point to ask at parties, school functions if the foods contain such and such. But we don't expect them to change their menu's for us, we just make sure not to indulge in anything we shouldn't have. For us it hasn't been a problem and we will carry a snack or something we can eat with us.

That raises another question. If someone orders a birthday cake, and one of the kids has allergies, what's the common practice, making the whole cake allergy free? Or a separate little thing for the child with allergies? What do you professionals do? I know as a kid I had a couple food allergies and I hated being singled out or having a big deal made out of having allergies. As was mentioned, when you have allergies, you just quietly decide what to eat and what not to eat, but it seems to me part of the big deal of going to a birthday party is having the same cake everyone else has.

My daughter has Celiac Disease as well as food allergies I feel its the parents job to inform someone if their child has allergies if they are requesting cake or whatever, How can a complete stranger know or be responsible for that. I myself am constantly having to ask about ingredients ,Last year at my daughters Birthday party we all had Gluten Free cake but this year I think I will make her cake gluten free and have another regular cake for everyone else . But some of my family really like the pamelas gluten free cake mix this is the only one so far we have found that we really like .I completely agree with Cakebox its scary to trust someone like servers and chefs and people that just dont know or understand anything about food allergies I know the awareness is lot better now than it used to be but I can tell you for certain some people just do not get it . I called my daughters High School to talk to the cafeteria workers about what ingredients the French fries contained so she read off the list of ingredients , I preceded to tell her about my daughter having Celiac Disease and I ask her if they had dedicated fryers for French fries only and she told me yes that they fried nothing but French fries in these fryers so I continue on to talk to her about all these foods my child has to avoid and as I always do I ask her again about the fryers and I will say do you fry breaded chicken nuggets or chicken tenders in these fryers that the french fries are cooked in and she tells me yes !!! When I had just plainly ask her if the fryers were dedicated fryers to french fries only I dont know how many places that have told me the same thing Most of them dont even know what Celiac is and when I tell them and let them know that if she eats gluten it causes her body to attack itself They look at you hey you know that you and this person you are talking to are on two different planets I hope I do not offend anyone I know that they are good caring people that do understand . Sorry guys just had to vent.

I am the mother of a 4 year old with severe food allergies. I make all her baked goods. As a person who does baking for sale, I never ask because I know how diligent I am about telling people about her allergies when we go to restaurants etc., that I find it hard to believe that someone would not tell you that there will be people eating the cake with allergies, if in fact they know. Also, when you ask, you are opening yourself to potential problems and liability.

On the other side, I also have a secondary business geared towards children with food allergies, and I am very aware of what equipment I use and run it through the dishwasher prior to using it for these items including all my decorating tips and I keep my decorating bags separate.

Bottom line, it is the customers responsibility, not yours! If the customer does mention an allergy, put it in writing, also put a disclaimer, that those items are used in your kitchen and you can not be responsible for cross contamination. Dairy Queen posts big signs about peanuts this way. Make sure the customer signs it and gets a copy. This can be how lawsuits are born!

I believe it's the customer's responsibility...I never asked about allergies when I took orders....If someone wanted to order a cake and they mentioned allergies, I wouldn't do it....I referred them to someone else.