Megan McKenna and Jack Fowler sign letter calling for food allergy tsar

Love Island contestant Fowler and The Only Way Is Essex star McKenna led signatures on an open letter by The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, calling for an allergy tsar to be appointed in order to “prevent more unnecessary deaths”.

The letter urges the parties running in the General Election on July 4 to pledge “to give greater priority to allergy and commit to appointing the allergy tsar”, should they form the next government.

It comes a week after Fowler, who starred in 2018’s edition of Love Island, required five tanks of oxygen and an epi pen after suffering a severe allergic reaction on a flight to Dubai.

Fowler said he flagged his severe nut allergy twice and was reassured the meal did not contain nuts, before being served a creamy cashew nut chicken curry without his knowledge. “We desperately need a national lead to stand up for people like me with allergies,” he said. “I hope the next government will listen to the millions of people with allergies, and take action to appoint an allergy tsar.”

McKenna, who suffers with an allergy to wheat, said “enough is enough” to her almost three million Instagram followers. “No one should have to die from the food they eat,” she said, before calling for allergies to be “taken seriously”.

The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation was set up by Nadim and Tanya Ednan-Laperouse, after their 15-year-old daughter Natasha died following a severe allergic reaction to a Pret a Manger baguette sandwich containing sesame in July 2016.

“This is an opportunity for the next government to lead and tackle this modern-day epidemic that affects thousands of people in every constituency,” the couple said. “Now is the time to act to prevent more unnecessary deaths and ill health from allergy. How many more children can we afford to lose through largely preventable fatal allergic reactions?”

Following Natasha’s death, the law was changed to require all food outlets to provide a full ingredients list and allergy labelling on food pre-packaged for direct sale.