SATURDAY Kitchen has been hit with hundreds of complaints after Matt Tebbutt served severely allergic Sharleen Spiteri a “dangerous” meal.
The shock scenes aired on 18 September, and have also been slammed by a leading charity.
Texas star Sharleen said that she suffers from coeliac disease during the episode, which is a life-long autoimmune condition that causes severe damage to the body when gluten is eating.
Coeliac causes the immune system to attack its own tissue if gluten, which is found in wheat, barely, and rye, is consumed – with bread, biscuits, pasta, and cake some popular food items that typically contains it.
After explaining her disease, host Matt said: “Well let’s not bring that on”, but later horrified viewers when he served her a plate with bread on it.
Sharleen confessed on the show that she occasionally ate bread, which coeliac activist Morgan Moore slammed on Instagram, saying that’s “not a great thing to be putting out on television as that is the complete opposite of what coeliac are told to do”.
But Morgan was further outraged by Matt saying “we really don’t want to hear it” in reference to Sharleen’s dietary requirements, with it important for him to know Sharleen’s intolerance given that he is cooking for her.
Coeliac disease is so serious that even cross-contamination is incredibly risky, and food should be prepared in a separate area with separate utensils to food containing gluten to avoid a painful flare up.
The BBC have since confirmed that the episode received 217 formal complaints, citing the reason as: “Inaccurate portrayal of seriousness of Coeliac disease.”
Charity Coeliac UK also issued a statement, which read: “On last weekend’s Saturday Kitchen (September 18) a presenter served a guest, who had stated she has coeliac disease, a food product containing gluten.
“This was irresponsible and careless, and sent a dangerous and inaccurate message to those suffering from this serious autoimmune condition. A strict gluten free diet for life is the only treatment for coeliac disease and there is no luxury for the opportunity for a ‘cheat day’.
“When catering for those with the condition, all foods containing gluten (a protein found in wheat, barley and rye) must be avoided. Not only that, but to avoid cross contamination, any food must be prepared separately from gluten containing foods. Even just a crumb could cause unpleasant symptoms, and even if a food has only been briefly touched by a gluten containing product it will have collected the gluten protein.
“Coeliac disease affects 1 in 100 people in the UK, it’s one of the most common autoimmune diseases – over 1.5 times more prevalent than Type 1 diabetes. But sadly awareness is still low and the effects of it are often misunderstood by the general population.”
