Woman Swaps Out Her Roommate’s Food With Vegan, Ends Up Charged With A Felony
If you’ve ever had a food allergy, you know how serious it may be. It occurs when the body’s immune system reacts to certain proteins in food, and the reactions may vary from hives and lip swelling to even life-threatening symptoms that may involve fatal respiratory problems and shock known as anaphylaxis.
But this story posted on r/AITA which started with one roommate’s allergy to soy products has many more layers to it. “The next day after she moved in, she cooked breakfast for us. I was surprised,” the author recounted the morning with her new vegan roommate named Erin. But it turned out that unbeknownst to Erin, the author was “deathly allergic to a few things,” and soy products were one of them.
“I start eating and everything tastes a little off. At this point, she does a “‘Ta da’ and smugly told us ‘I bet it tastes exactly like meat,’” the author said. As you can imagine, this didn’t go well. Not only did the author have to stay in a hospital for 2 days due to her allergic reaction, but she also filed a complaint to the police.
But this was far from the end of the story, so read on below to find out how it escalated. Let me just tell you it involves a degree of felony.
This woman has recently shared a story of how she pressed charges against her roommate who swapped her food with a vegan alternative without being aware she’s “deathly allergic” to soy
Image credits: Thomas Park (not an actual photo)
Food tampering laws and related consequences do vary from state to state. For instance, California law (Penal Code Section 347) states that anyone who knowingly adds poison or a harmful substance to any food, drink, medicine, or pharmaceutical product where another person could be harmed is guilty of a felony punishable by a prison sentence of two to five years. If the substance could cause death or great bodily injury to a person, an additional three years is added to the sentence.
According to the United States Department of Justice, Subsection (a) of 18 U.S.C. § 1365 “prohibits tampering or attempted tampering with any consumer product that affects interstate or foreign commerce, or with the labeling of, or the container for, such a product. The tampering must be done with reckless disregard for the risk that another person will be placed in danger of death or bodily injury. Furthermore, the tampering must be done under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the risk of death or bodily injury.”
Image credits: Olga Kononenko (not an actual photo)
However, we do not know whether this particular case involved food tampering and though the author of the post mentioned that “food tampering is a felony,” she didn’t explain how that related to the incident.
For anyone with a severe food allergy, consuming food with an allergen in it, even the smallest amounts of it, can be extremely dangerous. This may happen though the manufacturing process or during the food preparation process.
Image credits: Sandra Dempsey (not an actual photo)
When it comes to the author’s allergy, an allergy to soy, it is a common food allergy to soybean products. Often, soy allergy starts in infancy with reaction to soy-based infant formula. Although most children outgrow soy allergy, some carry the allergy into adulthood. Mild signs and symptoms of soy allergy include hives or itching in and around the mouth.
Even though a severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis) is rare with soy allergy, according to Mayo Clinic, it’s more likely to occur in people who also have asthma or who are allergic to other foods besides soy, such as peanuts. Anaphylaxis causes more extreme signs and symptoms, including: difficulty breathing, caused by throat swelling; shock, with a severe drop in blood pressure; rapid pulse; dizziness, lightheadedness or loss of consciousness.
The author clarified a couple of details to the commenters
Certain factors may put you at greater risk of developing a soy allergy, like family history. You’re at increased risk of allergy to soy or other foods if other allergies, such as hay fever, asthma, hives or eczema, are common in your family. Another common factor is age since soy allergy is most common in children, especially toddlers and infants. Other allergies may also put the person at risk of having soy allergy.
According to the Mayo Clinic, in some cases, people who are allergic to wheat, beans (legumes), milk or other foods can also have an allergic reaction to soy. Also, people who are allergic to soy may have test results showing allergy to other legumes, but may be able to eat them with no problem.
Some commenters thought that the author did the right thing
However, some thought the author acted like a jerk
And some people said that everyone was wrong in this situation
Roommate situation with deadly allergies and nobody tells the new girl? New girl sucks, but the lack of responsibility on all parties involved here is stupefying.
That is the reason I'm calling bs on this one. Anybody with anaphylaxis will tell cos their life depends on it.
Anyone deathly allergic to soy would have an eppi pin. Anyone deathly allergic to soy would need to know if ANY processed foods were used in making the breakfast. Anyone deathly allergic to soy would make their own breakfast.
I dont have an eppi pen because Medicaid don't cover it no more and they are hella expensive cost over 1,000 bucks in my state which I only make $800 in SSI and I have $600 in rent to pay sorry I'd rather watch my allergies like a hawk then pay that much money which I can't afford so I ask every restaurant if things are made with pork/coconut products and I know when people lie to me as well as when I'm sick I'm allergic to sulfa drugs/penicillin too so doctors walk on eggshells to treat me with the flu or anything or having surgeries which I've had 3 of them this year I am severely disabled/severe health issues due to a parent did illegal drugs most states Medicaid stopped covering Eppipen
Ask your doc if he/she is willing to prescribe a vial of epinephrine injection and a few syringes (with needles, obviously). You'll be able to get several EpiPen shots out of the vial for about ¼ the cost of a single regular EpiPen. (Your doc will best be able to tell you how to do this, I'm just telling you the workaround my stepdad's doc came up with for him). Sometimes insurance covers this, sometimes not. But $50 for 3-4 epi shots is certainly better than $200+ for a single EpiPen.
If I could do your workaround you found out about I would but sadly I can't hun I'm not upset I'm more upset by our damn gonverment more than anything treating us Disabled People like this they have done it for over 100 years
I told her also I'd rip her a new one if I didn't get my way my mom supported me too but still I was refused to get myself fixed ridiculous. That's how bad the health care system is they don't care about our rights neither people born as I was with Disabilities and Health Issues that's 'completely genetic'
What I do when she said that and said I'm too young too? I went off on her and said that to the gonverment we women are just babymakers cause old fogeys run the damn US and it's true hun who think they can have control over our Wombs even mine! Which this womb chooses no I'd rather off myself than give Birth to severely disabled/health issues kids like me who suffers like I do 24/7
People on Disability do get health bills alot you people who work don't realize it the gonverment don't care about us there is even a marriage ban for us we are just numbers actually to the GOP reminds me of the Jews in WW2
I get imaging of all.kinds for my shunt every month cause my shunt doctor requests it to check if it's working right and my tubing ain't wearing out cause that can kill me if the shunt malfunctions or tubing wears out so they image my head down to my stomach first they do MRI of my head which my shunt is the kind they can do it with it it's a special one imagine the cost of that shunt if the doc didn't get permission for coverage from Medicaid then they image my chest, neck and tummy $50 a pop each image even MRI last time I saw was $100 Medicaid tho I'm disabled has been cut so severely
I'm not the only Disabled person who thinks this we all do hun. The marriage ban goes like this if you get marriage they consider your partners money part of your income too so they will take your insurance and money completely away if you get married so we don't have rights at all we disabled people tho we are mostly born this way I was. Hell I want to get my ovaries fixed cause I don't want any children by my genes will suffer from my kind of Disabilities and I was refused by my OBGYN for my cycle disorder cause tho I said my reason not to get have kids was my Disabilities/severe health issues she told me I'll change my mind and have kids
You should get an OBGYN that takes you seriously.
I know, I meant to tell my regular doctor about my wish and this incident, but I've been having surgery after surgery caused by my health issues, the health issues is caused by my biodad doing drugs and impregnating my mother with me which doctors have found this out why I have such issues. He was a heavy drug addict did everything out there. My doctor says I must get checked once a year for ovarian cancer too since I have a cycle disorder can cause ovarian cancer as well it runs strongly on my biodad's side, so I'm a high risk and I told that OBGYN that she didn't care in the least either. Even my dentists don't listen to me about my bad teeth I want removed rotting away by being born without enamel it's sad really
I actually got a letter from Medicaid saying no eppipen will no longer be covered by my insurance entirely as well as I can't afford $50 a pop for injections I also cause my allergens and also a other conditions I have I have to buy necessities that take most my spending money after I pay $600 in rent. Yes I may have $200 left yet every month I buy a phone card $50 and my meds is $10-15 a pop my hygiene products cost around total 30-45 bucks my pads are in a big pack $30 cause I have a cycle disorder tho I take birth control I still bleed heavy so I get the biggest brand in a huge pack I usually by 2 a month cause I go through pads like eating candy in one month and in one month I go through one and a half a pack. So gotta buy 2 more and if I'm broke my mom and step dad pitches in including with any health bills I have I mentioned. I'm even being charge $50 a pop for imaging now for my shunt which when Trump was in office it never happened or being charged for $200 in blood work. I get
Look to see if there are any food banks in your area. Ask them about healthcare and drug coverage. A lot of them know about programs that can help pay for drugs. Our local church is hooked up with the food bank and once a month they will give out a personal care box that includes soap, shampoo, deodorant, pads/tampons, all sorts of stuff. As for your medical costs, explain nicely to your doctor your fixed income situation. A lot of times Drs will lower their rates or copay rates for someone who is broke. The key is asking nicely.
All of these people trying to blame the girl who was hospitalized are morons!!!!!! People these days are willing to defend a person who lied which caused this entire thing, then blame someone who did absolutely nothing wrong! Its incredibly pathetic!
Mylan (EpiPen company) has free and low cost programs on their websites. There are generic Epi-pens available for $10. Auvi-Q is back on the market and also offers low to no cost options based on income and insurance. There is no excuse for not having one. Just Google "low cost or free Epi-pens" or "low cost EpiPen alternatives." Sometimes we must help ourselves. I'm disabled and broke myself - almost all drugs have low to no cost programs for people like us.
As well every damn year the gonverment cuts crap from Medicaid for the disabled like me which is bs the Eppipen was one of the things they cut I also have to pay $200 I don't have now on bloodwork which I used to not have to which my mom pays it for me which I feel really bad for because she has over $1mill in doctors bills
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Hints why she asked the girl cooking what the ingredients were!!!! All the cook had to do was BE HONEST!!!!!! That would have prevented all of this. Its astonishing how many of you people want to try and defend a person that lied haha. Society has truly taken a turn for the worst.
It's fake because its really hard to find bacon without traces of soy. And she also made pancakes and hash browns xD
Agree...even though I dont carry a epi pen...everyone knows around me that I'm allergic to bees..if I'm with someone hanging out I tell them so they know
AGAIN, I understand how irresponsible it seems to be on both sides, but IT'S NOT OK to alter people's food and then claim to be of no offense and offer no restitution for because "you didn't know the person was allergic" to the food... that you tricked them into, BY LYING, eating. Long story short, Erin needed a lesson in PERSONAL boundaries that cost a her felony conviction and the victim should PROBABLY cook for themselves since, for WHATEVER reason, she doesn't like to reveal allergies that may cause death. Now the judge COULD have ordered payment maybe, IMO and explained WHY she COULD have been convicted of a felony.🤷🏾♂️ #duh
Exactly… OP is i no need to disclose allergy if there is no reason to expect it to be the issue… Myself, I have problems with soy as well - it boost a hell lot of other allergies, which I manage just fine - like dust, pollen… However, I'm not going around, explaining everyone… If I'm being given something and told it's bacon, I expect zero or minimal soy content that "I'll manage" and thus I have no reason to disclose anything… After all - for me it's about comfort, not life/death thing… And for clarity: While vegan pseudo-bacon / pseudo-burgers taste weirdly, they are not so much far off from cheap real bacon with unfortunate choice of spices… OP supposedly comes from poor conditions, thus maybe able to only afford low quality food, that doesn't taste that much better than pseudo-meat… …thus only realising it once poisoning started to take an effect, roughly 10 minutes later…
I have anaphylaxis and take it seriosly. The author clearly did not. It's very hard to believe this story is real, as no one with anaphylaxis could possibly be this stupid and live.
That's been said that about Trumpers and yet look at them living.
Good point on the BS. makes much more sense than somebody getting a felony for serving non-meat bacon
When you have deathly allergies it's deathly stupid not to tell about it. Sure, cook was a bit of a smug jerk but this person with allergy would've won a Darwin award in the 19th century, AND she didn't even carry an epi pen despite her allergy.
I have to agree. My whole concern is that I read here that Erin didn't think she owed anything behind this. NOT the SMARTEST approach band MAYBE morning coffees weren't drunk yet, BUT a ROOMMATE should PROBABLY know of any allergies AND where an EpiPen is in the case of an emergency... and pay or offer to pay when something THEY did causes harm. 😅😆 🤣🥲
They don't need to know, unless there is a need to explain reason for refusing that soy-filled cake… I also do not tell everyone around - I just avoid soy-rich food and keep high on antihistamines in my blood in case I miss something… So, I would also consider bacon to be perfectly safe and got poisoned…
If this is even real, you have no idea what her symptoms are vs yours. If she almost died, eating food cooked by a person she didn't even know yet, she wasn't too worried about it. People with reactions that severe are vigilant about what they eat. But I'm also calling BS.
I concur with this assessment.
Yep and ruined the new girls life. They are both a-holes.
If you have a dinner party, do you ask whether anyone has allergies every single time? No, because you assume everyone is a well-adjusted individual who won't try to ruin your life by charging you with a felony if they have an allergic reaction.
Ummm I absolutely ask every time. I cook things for my students at treats and I'm always careful to get all allergy info every semester so that I don't bring in something that can kill someone. I also know that allergies can appear at any time in someone's life so I would always ask beforehand so could prepare safe food. Edited to add: if I were a guest I talk to the host before the meal is planned so I know what allergens are being used. I don't expect a whole new meal made just for me - I just want to make sure the foods I do eat are safe. I've even offered to bring my own meal to be warmed in the microwave to make it easier for the host.
I never ask anyone I serve food to if they have any allergies and I never will. If they have an allergy they better know it and disclose it. And there are no laws that require a person serving food in a home or casual non commercial environment to disclose the ingredients in advance to those eating it. This story is fake and ridiculous.
I have an allergy to certain food colourings, not even a bad one that would kill me but enough that my throat feels very sore and scratchy and sometimes I break out in a bad rash for days after. But I always tell people when you're doing something where food is involved simply because I don't want to feel uncomfortable for days. If it could literally kill me I'd be even more cautious. Seems so weird to not tell people about it. If someone says they have an allergy people make 100% sure that product isn't present, if they just ask for ingredients you don't instantly assume allergy. Lots of people say "what's in this?" out of curiosity.
Right. It's probably a good idea to ask. But it's the person with the allergy that is risking his/her life. It sounds like the OP just wanted to go this route. "Ah ha I have a deathly allergy to soy but I'm just gonna eat it this without confirmation so I can say Gotcha!" It's stupid. That was a harsh sentence for someone who wasn't being malicious too. I'm on the fence but leaning way over to the BS side.
If it's a new friend, I'll ask "Any dietary restrictions?" It's open-ended to include allergies, diets, religious and ethical restrictions, dislikes, etc.
No, but if anyone asks, I list all ingredients, particularly allergens… And myself I do not disclose, I just go for clearly soy-less food or I ask for content… (Not deadly for me though, even high amounts result in just vision impairment and heavy breathing for few hours)
Every single time? No, because hopefully after the first time you host, you already know...
I dont think she sux at all. I did that same exact thing 2 my step dad recently. All I was trying to do was get an older person who I knew would NEVER try a meat substitute unless they didnt know about it, 2 try it cuz we have about 2 yrs left 2 save this damn planet and raising animals 4 meat is the top contributer 2 climate change. I used 2 b a HUGE meat eater and now I only eat it a few times a month and try 2 stick 2 vegan when I can. Also if youve ever seen a factory farming undercover vid youde never want 2 eat meat again. I was TRYING 2 do the right thing and stop as much suffering as I could & doin wat little I could 2 reduce my fam's carbon footprint. Id expect someone with a deadly allergy 2 TELL ME cuz that's THEIR responsibility!! Cooking some1 a meal IS a nice thing 2 do no matter if u give them fake meat or not. If hed said "I need 2 kno whats in this cuz I'm allergic 2 stuff" then OBVI id tell him it wasn't real meat. Even real frozen meat balls could contain soy tho!
You're absolutely pathrtic!!!! She specifically asked the gril what was in it for a reason! All that girl had to do was "BE HONEST" and the entire situation could have been avoided. The girl who ended up in the hospital had zero obligation to tell anyone about her allergies let alone some person she had known for less then 24 hours!
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It's not her responsibility to tell her. She asked the ingredients and the new girl lied. Is she supposed to tell her just in case the girl is lying? If someone asks you the ingredients in a meal you made, it's for a reason. She lied and almost killed someone, end of story.
This story is so ridiculously fake. She can't tell the difference just by look of imitation bacon? She is deathly allergic to soy and doesn't disclose that to a roommate she knows to be a vegetarian ( who just happens to cook eggs and bacon for breakfast)? Whoever made up this story is stupid. The main character is stupid and a scumbag. And anyone who actually believes this story is pretty stupid as well, and should learn some critical thinking skills.
OP absolutely should have disclosed her allergies, no matter what the food was. My son has a life-threatening allergy to pineapple, and the very first thing he tells people when they invite him to have a meal is, “Just so you know, I have a very severe allergy to pineapple.” Before he sits down, he then reminds them of the allergy and asks about the ingredients of anything he’s not sure about. It may have saved his life one time when the host did not realize there was pineapple in the bottled sauce she used on the chicken; only discovering it when my son asked to read the ingredients off the bottle. Yes, roommate is the a**hole for pulling the bait-and-switch, but OP is responsible for informing anyone serving her food that she has an allergy that can kill her.
The thing I have the most problem with is the fact that someone believes fake bacon is real pork bacon 🥓 😐. I've seen it all and eaten tons of different brands and not one kind of fake bacon remotely looks like real pork bacon. It looks closer to begging strips for dogs, honestly. I have a hard time finding it believable that the OP didn't really question the authenticity of the meat based on looks alone, not to mention the smell is far different also. This is just nuts.
I have an issue with that as well. I have been cooking for my vegetarian husband for 20 years, and I have never found a bacon alternative that is ANYWHERE close to mimicking actual bacon. The texture itself is way different than actual bacon, never mind the taste. It cooks up stiff and cakey, nothing like actual meat.
I agree that stuff is obviously very fake. Plus I know when any food I'm allergic to is cooked, tiny molecules of allergens are released. I can be on opposite side of the house but if someone starts cooking seafood I will immediately get severe asthma attack and start getting anaphylaxis. So I find it suspicious that allergy person was in the house that whole time and never even felt ill while the fakon was cooking.
I don't have any food allergies but I have a latex allergy and many medication allergies and when the latex allergy was just beginning to creep up, I would start to get a very itchy nose watering eyes and tingling itchy lips that would burn like windburn if I blew up a balloon. So I understand what you mean. I wonder also why the court, especially, didn't think she had more responsibility for herself in the situation. It's really crazy. It's sus for sure and she ruined someones life over it. I hope karma is vengeful bitch where she's concerned.
I have to say it, the point of LAW is to protect people from things things done by other folks that are more educated on or aware of that cause and to ensure possibility of recourse when people just won't pay when they hurt someone. NOW, would I consider Erin's actions FELONIOUS? PROBABLY not. Misinterpretation of the reason for rule and law there IMO.
If you want to bring the law into it, it says the law is for people who have "intent to harm". The roommate had no intent to harm as she was not made aware of the allergy. She couldn't possibly know she was harming her by feeding her soy. Those laws are made for people who were trying to poison someone intentionally to harm them. For God's sake, the girl just made breakfast for her new roommates. Does it really make more sense to you that she would try to hurt a roommate on day 2 and risk being homeless? Something sounds very sus about this story. At BEST, she should share the bill but it was not a felony action.
Be careful with bananas, avocados, kiwi, and pineapple. There's actually a list of them. I'm allergic to those so Drs say stay away from latex. There's a list of foods people allergic to latex should stay away from.
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Soy has to be ingested due the difference in makeup. Look it up.
Ikr fake bacon is nothing like the real thing, not even turkey bacon comes close haha
Not to mention that you would hardly ever find a vegetarian that would cook meat for someone. The OP even stated it tasted off. EVERYONE knows vegetarians eat a lot of soy and if I had a deathly allergy to something I would be sure to let a vegetarian know they cannot use it in the house before they moved in.
Talking about "Beggin Strips", I've seen some s**t store brand bacon day is all I'm saying.
*may contain nuts
You are so right. That what I thought when I was reading the story.
But was it really a bait and switch? The author clearly said the new roommate is a vegetarian, my question is what did they think she was going to cook with, seeing how she herself( new roommate) will also be eating the breakfast.
my thought at first: whoa a vegetarian will Cook bacon for her? really?
It is a bait and switch because she asked her to her face and was told it was bacon. She was lied to. How are people defending the liar here?
How can you possibly believe this story is real. Sure, she had a deadly allergy to soy and knows a vegetarian is making breakfast and she just asks what's in it while saying nothing of her allergy. Get real. The fake op should have died and been given a Darwin Award. That would be a better story. Moral of that story... Don't be an idiot and disclose your deadly allergies to anyone serving you food and make sure they know exactly what was in the food and anything they used to prepare it.
I developed an allergy to bell peppers later on in life when my auto immune condition became active. Thankfully it's not anaphylaxis, but it's pretty miserable in that, as the allergist explained, I get hives in my GI tract (leading to exactly what you're thinking about 15 min after the first bite). I always check ingredients for myself and ask for seasonings to be left off burgers/steaks/fries except for S&P when I'm out. You have to advocate for yourself if you don't want to be sick, because nobody else knows what it's going to feel like but you.
Thank you, that's being responsible for himself.
Hints why she asked the girl cooking what she was cooking!!!! Its amazing we are now in a society where a girl can straight up lie which resulted in someome being hospitalized and then she is the one who gets defended. All she had to do was TELL THE TRUTH!!!!!!!!! Place the responsibility where it belongs.
No, the OP isn't. The roommate is responsible for not lying about what's in food. An allergy medical condition you are not obligated to share with anyone unless you want to. She asked the ingredients and was lied to, end of story. It is in no way her fault that she was lied to and saying she should have told her to prevent being lied to is some next level mental gymnastics.
Really? Where did she ask "Is there any soy in this food"? Where did the roommate say "Nope. No soy." The soy allergy girl is responsible for disclosing her deadly allergies, especially to a known vegetarian cooking her a meal. End of fake story. You could use some mental exercise to learn how to identify clearly made up stories.
So take this example, I go to a bar and order a cuba libre with diet coke, but the bartender decides to screw with my drink because they're out of Cola zero and after a nice night out I end up with hyperglycemia so bad I have to get an IV to flush out ketones. So am I to blame I FaiLEd tO DiscLoSE my DiAbeTes to an effing bartender and dude decided sugar is ok for everyone? you do not fak with peoples food.
Don't drink that bullshit as a dietetic or being hyperglycemic. So many other healthy options for you.
You can't taste the difference between diet coke and real coke? I'd get tested for covid. Then see an ENT about your taste buds.
That's not a good analogy. One you would have to add in the fact that you have to ask what's in the drink. Two, a customer/server relationship is very different from a roommate relationship. I agree that what the roommate did was wrong, but as someone who also has a severe allergy, you always have to loo out for yourself.
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So, you don’t believe in medical privacy? For whatever reason she may have not wanted to be specific. Which is why she PROACTIVELY asked the ingredients. Bacon is pork. It is specific. Erin admitted she wanted to trick them into eating a meatless meat (which isn’t being nice, btw)and lied about an ingredient. Who sits down at your table and asks for ingredients? People who can’t have certain ingredients and who are evaluating what they can and can’t eat. She evaluated the bacon as bacon. Erin purposefully deceived her causing the financial crisis that ensued. California penal code (as mentioned above) along with most states considers this one act of not disclosing an ingredient felony food tampering. Precisely for the results that occurred.
She was just being a typical smug early 20 something trying to expose her new friends to new things. Not some mustache twirling villian. If you're deathly allergic, or even just have a reaction, and you didn't prepare it, state it plainly that you have allergies. You should never trust your life to someone elses powers of deduction.
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It's not powers of deduction. She asked the ingredients and was lied to. Lied to. It's her fault for not telling new girl when she asked for the information and was lied to? So she nearly died because she was lied to about the ingredients she expressly asked about, but it's her fault for not letting her know? That's some twisted sense of responsibility.
You can't have medical privacy in the situation where you are living with a person who is severely allergic, especially if it's something as common as soy and living with a vegetarian. The roomate in this situation was a d**k for lying, but even if she had made normal bacon here would be a constant risk of accidental cross contamination. What if she had cooked her own breakfast in the same pan, or used Soy milk in the pancakes. Or left dishes from a Soy meal she had made in the sink and the poster did the dishes later not knowing? Soy is also contained in a lot of other products, even some processed meat products have it added as it gives the product a smoother texture, so even non vegetarian products such as burgers or sausages could be a trigger if she doesn't disclose it
So, you don't believe in common sense and knowledge? You're giving OP credit for "proactively" asking what the ingredients are at the last minute but you're saying that OP had no reason to PROACTIVELY tell the new, known to be vegetarian, roommate that she has a deadly allergy to some of the foods the new roommate may eat before the roommate made a rent agreement and moved in? I'd be willing to bet that this didn't play out as the AITA script would like us to believe. OP would have had no legal standing once it was found out that she didn't make her allergies known.
I agree that it makes no sense that if you are living by with a new person and you have a deathly allergy, why would you not tell them about it immediately. Especially if they are vegetarian because soy is a very common vegetarian ingredient. And certainly while she was sitting down to eat something she had made for her, why wouldn't you at that point tell her about your allergy. This doesn't make sense.
Yes! OP needed to have said something. This post seems fake partially because the narrator seems to be almost desperately looking for something sensational to happen, and they make that happen by blatantly and stubbornly keeping her deadly allergy as a secret (as do the supposed best-friend roomates who also strangely say nothing as this plays out), in a situation when any fully coherent individual suffering from an allergy of this magnitude would disclose the severity of their allergy, i.e. anyone else would've said, "This has no soy in it, right? I'm deathly allergic to soy."
Third choice with severe allergies and not wanting to disclose your personal information is DON'T EAT THE F*****G FOOD. I know someone with several severe food allergies. She doesn't eat anything she didn't prepare herself in her oen kitchen. Op is an irresponsible asshole. New roomate is a sneaky liar. ESH.
Medical privacy has no place when someone comes to my house for a meal and could potentially die from something I make for them when it could be very easily avoided by asking. 98.9% of people who have allergies with serious enough effects are not going to balk at telling you they have anaphylaxis to peanuts, gluten, dairy, soy, mustard, nitrates, etc.
As a vegetarian, I would have been furious if the roles were reversed and someone had tricked me into eating meat. I would never, ever lie to someone about food. It is an aboslute no-go (you never know who might have allergies or relgious reasons for not eating certain foods, especially 'unclean' meats like pig meat). Allergies aside, the new flatmate was absolutely in the wrong and suing for the medical costs seems reasonable. Having her charged with a felony is completely over the top though. Everyone is a bit stupid at that age and being sued would have been 'lesson' enough. A felony will ruin her for life. The authorn should have informed her of any allergies before having the new flatmate move in, and defintely before letting her into the kitchen. I accidently sent my flatmate to hospital at that age because I didn't wash-up a jar of pesto and left it in the sink once. Thankfully we weren't in the USA. Anything can happen with allergies! It was irresponsible not to be clear on tha
I totally agree with you. I have a severe allergy to camphor, which can be in medicines and cosmetics. I tell everybody I work with or live with that vicks vapor rub etc could be a hospital visit because I really want to avoid the experience. Most allergic people I know are pretty fast to put the info out there.
And in the hospital in Australia could have a morgue visit because of the tea tree and camhorous vapors in diffusers
Yes the flatmate was wrong for the subterfuge but, according to the story told by OP, OP never told the flatmate about any allergy, deadly or otherwise. What the flatmate did was childish there is no doubt but that it turned as serious as it did is 100% OP's fault.
It's against the law for a reason. You can't mess w peoples food. It's the same as giving drugs or medicine to people wo their knowledge or saying it's Tylenol when it's really aspirin what if this girl had died? The roommate would definitely had went to prison for manslaughter bc she lied about what she was serving doesn't matter if she's nice.
The law in California refers to adding things to the food that are *KNOWINGLY* harmful. I imagine it's the same in most places. She did not know, therefore that law does not apply and she should not be guilty of that particular felony.
That's why I think this story is false. The roommate did not tamper with food. She prepared a none poisonous breakfast. Sure there is no soy on bacon but there are MANY common place items that may contain traces of soy. It just depends on the food processors or packers. The actions here don't rise to the level of a felony. I don't believe they rise to the level of food tampering.
Obviously you're wrong bc she was convicted of a felony. I'm a mom and I always ask any kids that come over what they can't eat. I certainly wouldn't pretend bacon was bacon bc I'd be afraid I'd hurt someone. She knowingly lied about the food she served.
Erin being convicted of a felony because her negligent roommate didn't bother to disclose her soy allergy to Erin is really messed up. The legal thing behind this mishap is over the top. When you or your child has food allergies, it's your responsibility to make sure your food is s safe to eat. Even if it means preparing it yourself or sending it prepared.
She didn't mess with the food or replace it. All she did was cook breakfast.
However the roommate was unaware of OP allergy. Now Erin was trying to be nice and prepare breakfast. The accountability falls on the author of story. Her failure to not provide this crucial info to Erin. The author has food allergies that are severe so it's her responsibility to make sure her food is safe. Prepare her own food.
Yours is a very simplistic point of view.
I have severe food allergies and I'm very proactive about making sure any food that I don't cook myself is fully safe to eat. Just telling the vegan that she has severe food allergies would have probably made the vegan come clean. Allergy girl is trying to avoid any of the responsibility. Sorry but a lot of responsibility comes along with severe allergies and you need to be more proactive to protect your own health. It's not a simplistic point of view. It's what life is like with allergies.
And new girl tried to avoid the responsibility of the medical bills after lying to someone about what's in their food in some attempt to push their lifestyle on someone and then refusing to pay for the damage. But yeah, allergy girl is in the wrong... This is why I'm glad we have laws.
Allergy girl should have communicated better. Js
I don't think anyone is saying she's completely off the hook for medical bills. At the very least they should have shared because they were both immature about the situation. Bills would've been much smaller if allergy girl carried EpiPen, Benadryl, or steroids, all of which people with severe allergies carry with them. Her not taking any of them caused the 2 day stay. Otherwise ER would've sent her home same day with Prednisone after Benadryl shot.
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So the person who lied, not their fault at all huh?
The problem here is that the felony charges came first. OP said her uncle, a lawyer, explained she would win a lawsuit if the roommate was found guilty of the tampering charges. This was a deliberate 1-2 punch to ensure a win on the coverage of medical costs.
Thank you! I can't figure out why no one gets that she really didn't want her to have a feeling, just cover medications, which she my. Not to mention that she specifically asked if it was real bacon before eating and the girl said yes. Additionally, she isn't going to get any money. The medical bills were covered. Honestly, I agree that it's probably a fake post for a number of reasons both stated here and not mentioned. If it is real, I would advise her to reach out through mutual friend and explain that it was always just about the medical bills and if the girl ever wants to get the felony removed from her record that she would vouch for it.
Sorry, first sentence correction, she didn't want her to have a felony charge just cover medical treatment.
As a vegetarian I disagree. Vegetarians are usually so for ethical reasons. Omnivores eat plant based foods as well as meat, and, usually don't have ethical reasons for not eating plant based foods. So there's quite a bit of a contextual difference in the roles being reversed. I do agree though that if someone has food allergies they should absolutely be upfront with their roommates from the beginning. That's a pretty important piece of information. Even in my kids school students have to disclose their allergies so each class can post outside the door in case there are ever any foods in the classes, and there are certain tables kids with allergies are supposed to sit at in the dining hall.
I call b.s., most people don't know too many people with food allergies, and have no clue how to cook around one, and for anyone with a life threatening anything, that doesn't immediately tell the people SHE LIVES WITH, is most definitely the a**hole, or maybe even suicidal, the new roomie pulled a prank, a prank she had no clue could've possibly hurt anyone, I also don't believe she "refused" to help with the bill,... All that being said, I think this whole post is plain old b.s., too many things don't add up
So there’s an article in Bloomberg that details how some “plant” based fake-meat manufacturers are discretely using insects to get protein into their fake-meat patties. I was like no way, there would be more lawsuits, you’d hear the vegetarian community in an uproar......but this IS Bloomberg News, a fairly trustworthy source for information. Some “plant” based fake-meats might have mealworm protein in it. Just sayin.
Insects are not animals, so there should be no issues for vegetarians unless they are advertising the food as purely plant-based. There are excellent environmental reasons to turn to insects. I can absolutely understand the culturally determined 'yuck' factor though
"unclean' meats like pig meat" pork is just as clean as any other common and uncommon meat and has the same risk factors as all others if consumed raw or undercooked. The idea that pork is dirty is based on religious beliefs and antiquated practices or a lack of that allowed parasites to infect pigs. These same lack of proper livestock management was not limited to pigs and was also commonplace in beef and poultry farming. If you want to see where parasites are more commonplace then take a look at seafood, wild caught fish will have thin hair like worms in the meat.
I wrote "unclean" in inverted commas to indicate its use as a specific term relating to religious beliefs. If you're the host, you have a duty to respect the dietary requirements of your guests whether you agree with them or not. FYI, a lot of seafood is also considered 'unclean'. If you don't know what requirements your guests have, then vegan-nut-free is the lowest easily doable common denominator. It's not really that hard.
I agree. I have to go back to veganism for health reasons. And whenever I have food with my friends, I won't switch things or try to coerce them. If they look at my food and they're curious, I'll ask if they want to try it. It's not that hard. If they say no then they don't want it. There it is leave it alone. I couldn't imagine switching food on people. That's f****** horrible. I will say though that the op is a raging piece of s***. I have a severe allergy to shrimp, my husband has a severe allergy and mushrooms. We don't ask people what's in the food. That is such an open-ended question and it doesn't present any sort of urgency. We will die and hence this is an urgent situation even though it's just food. So we let everyone know we will die if we eat this is there any of that in there. It's not that hard. And I got to tell you that someone who doesn't recognize fake meat especially bacon at sight, and doesn't ask these questions, I have to ask if she did it on purpose just to get $
There are coaches of a high school in the US that are being sued for 4 million $ bc they forced a Jewish boy that cannot eat pork bc of his religious views to eat pizza that they picked the pepperoni off of. They will lose too bc you cannot mess w peoples food plain and simple. It's against the law for a reason. Don't lie about food you serve and don't mess w anyones food. I worked w a guy when I was bartending and I caught him picking his nose and putting it into a customers burger. The customer was a straight up horrible pos but my god you just don't do this ever it absolutely criminal. I threw the food in the trash and told my boss. They let him go. They didn't press charges but I wish they had bc god knows what else he'll do. It should most definitely be a felony to mess with or lie about food
The kid story is a case of religious harassment or something similar, not poisoning (or food tampering). There's a ton of laws which cover messing with people's food, it's almost certainly illegal, but the question is how severe of a crime is that particular instance of food fuckery. Obviously intentional poisoning should be a felony charge. But things like deceiving someone about the ingredients might be a lesser crime depending on the intent.
You're wrong bc it's a felony she was convicted of a felony
You are assuming that the OP is truthful because they posted a random AITA on reddit and boredpanda wrote a story about it. There is no evidence that this slice of life isn't full fantasy. The fact that the individual in question would be charged with a felony under these circumstances seems extremely unlikely. Even by reading the law what the girl did didn't rise to the level of food tampering. The roommate prepared a meal. It wasn't poisoned. She offered and they let her. Fibbing about the protein is not the same as tampering. It's negligent, perhaps criminally negligent. It's not a felony charge. I think ANY attorney could make the argument that calling immitation bacon, bacon is not deceit. I cannot imagine a district attorney would think it was worth the time not to plea this out. Why would you charge a college girl with a felony who didn't have any intent to hurt anyone and doesn't have some looming criminal record?
More words here but still a simplistic point of view.
Pretty sure op can't sue for the medical costs unless her felony is proven.
No no, they can always sue but as stated in post the likelihood of succeeding is much higher with a directly related conviction to lean on.
You can sue in civil court for ANYTHING.
Well you should be smart enough to tell your roommate that you are allergic to soy or tell her you'll prepare your own breakfast that way there's no mistakes. When you have a food allergy like that, it's your responsibility to take care of yourself and make sure you don't eat the wrong things.
Yep. You don't lie about what you're serving to prove a point or try to force your dietary choices on others. Should the OP have told her about the allergy? Absolutely, especially since she said she was vegetarian. As a vegetarian... I don't eat soy, especially when it's been done up to be like meat. I personally find it vile, but to each their own. A felony charge does seem a bit much, but maybe that was the only way? I'm not familiar enough with the American legal system to make a call on that one.
I'm gluten intolerant. It's not really life threatening, but it is painful and unpleasant if I eat wheat, barley, or rye. If someone had *just moved in with me* and was cooking for me, it would be the first thing I mentioned. Yes, it's not cool that the roommate pretended the bacon was regular bacon- she could have said "would you like to try my meat free bacon?". But it's supremely uncool that OP escalated it to law enforcement over an act that was not malicious. A felony is a serious thing and closes so many doors for people.
Was just coming to the comments section to basically say the same thing :) if you have a severe food allergy that should be the first thing you tell someone your going to live with, especially as it's a vegetarian so they will likely use soy a lot and there could be easily cross contamination. Was a childish and stupid thing for the roommate to do, but to take the repercussions to that extreme level is an extremely Ahole move
And then op would have been the one in medical debt. Conclusion: ESH. Including the law and the insurance companies.
no because OP would have told before of the alargies and also should have meds close all the time if its soo severe
Yeah, I'm pretty much at that point too.
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She was supposed to just go bankrupt trying to pay the medical bill? OP did what she had to do thanks to her asshole roommate.
100% agree. im intolerant as well. if i eat a lot of gluten in a day, i get severely sick for days. worse than covid which i had 3 times and yes im vaccinated for the nosy ppl lol. just saying i know it seems dumb to some, but i cant work for 4 days and puking bile if i eat enough. new roommate was uncool for her actions but you can't assume when some food gives you serious health risks. i feel like people are not being responsible for their own actions nowadays. a felony charge!?!!? how could the OP not know what she was doing at any point in time? seems to me she wanted to get this new girl for everything she's worth and then some. i also feel like we dont have the actual truth to this situation. i have a lot of questions for the OP lol bc their own actions and the description of the situation isnt adding up.
If it helps you sleep, I have been searching for any trace of this case and there doesn't seem to be one, which leads me to believe the poster made this up for social media. No one got a felony over fake soy bacon.
My thinking as well but the story really annoyed me though lol
If the OP wouldn't have involved the law, she most likely wouldn't have won the civil case. Not OP's fault that US legislation and US health care are so twisted and messy that some misjudgement can lead to a personal bankruptcy because of insane medical bills.
How is any adult in America not aware that ANY felony will keep you from getting a job? Anyone with An allergy like that shouldn’t eat food without disclosing it. Yes the roommate should have paid the hospital bills and that could have been done without calling the police. That girls life is ruined because she did something dumb. She didn’t intend to send you to the hospital. I hope this story is fake. It’s angering all around.
This story is most likely made up. 1. Fake bacon never looks anything like real bacon 2. Someone with allergies shouldve said so when eating something cooked by a stranger. 3. If they didn't say anything about the allergies, I doubt a judge would give the accused a felony for Food Tampering. Hope this comment helps.
Exactly what I said! There has to be "intent to harm" and if she didn't know about the allergy she couldn't possibly be convicted of attempted harm.
Agree with you 100% but if the OP is true… I hope her next encounter with soy has a more permanent end to it
Given it's a fake story I'm liking that particular ending better. Next time disclose precisely what you're allergic to. Especially if it's soy and you live with a vegetarian who is cooking for you. That sort of idiocy should hopefully eliminate itself. I'd have liked to have been the judge in this fictional tale.
I hope so because I don't think a judge would be that serious if she never said specifically she had an allergy. Maybe a good lawyer could argue her calling it bacon when it wasn't is a charge but seems steep. Didn't seem like malicious intent. Legally in a restaurant you must state it to be protected and covered if something happens.
The roommate should not have to pay her medical bills. No one forced the OP to eat food prepared by someone else, she chose to keep what she was allergic to a secret, and she should of had an Epipen if her allergy is truly that severe. The Oop is a royal twat!!!
What is this? Bacon. Real bacon? Yes. It looks and smells a bit weird. You sure? Totally. But you're a vegetarian and you're making real bacon? Yep, for you my lovely new roommate who I know little about. Like any deadly food allergies you keep top secret. Ok. Well did you cook this with or by anything with soy in it, because I surely know that soy is quite common among vegetarian eaters. Why do you ask? Because I can literally DIE if I eat soy! Oh! Jesus woman why didn't you say so from the start! Yes, that's obviously fake bacon, as anyone who's eaten real bacon before can visually tell. Don't eat it! What the f..k why did you not say that when I moved in. Half the food on my side of the refrigerator has soy in it! Sorry new vegetarian roommate, I'm a first class idiot. Surprised I'm still alive actually.
You don't know how the conversation went. She probably asked and she just said yes once to get her to try it. Jesus Christ.
I got a felony charge at seventeen. That was eighteen years ago and I STILL have issues not only finding a job but also a place to live. It affects so many aspects of your life. I can't go on my kid's field trips. I can't rent an apartment. I can't find a decent job without lying on my application. It will haunt her for the rest of her life.
Meanwhile there are millions of people in America who've committed felonies that have just never been caught working all those jobs right now!
Mainly politicians (on both sides) and rich people. Jerry Springer was a mayor who was caught writing checks to hookers. Then he had his TV show and now he's on TV as one of those celebrity judges! To go from writing a city check for hookers to now being a judge!
Why should she have to pay the whole hospital bill though? Had the roommate just said I'm deathly allergic to soy, there wouldn't have been a hospital trip at all.
Exactly
"Erin" is an idiot, but OP is the asshole. I can see suing to recover medical expenses, but there was absolutely no need to file criminal charges. And where the hell did she get food tampering? "Erin" didn't knowingly add anything harmful to the food (nowhere is it indicated that she added anything at all). She didn't disclose the ingredients, but she doubtless would have had the OP made her allergies known. "Erin" was wrong, but there was no need to ruin her life for it.
The OP cannot have her charged with food tampering. That is the number 1 tell that this story is false. Charges are determined by the DA. This situation describes a misdemeanor of criminal negligence at the most. That's only because the roommate "fibbed". The OP said she asked what the meal was and Erin said bacon. Any defense lawyer would eat the this story for breakfast, by asking if there is anything truly criminal about a roommate calling immitation bacon, bacon, especially without knowledge of a food allergy, that the OP did not mention when the roommate offered to make breakfast and the OP agreed to let her make it and then consume it. THERE WAS NO FOOD TAMPERING. Also I find it EXTREMELY hard to believe that anyone deathly allergic to soy wouldn't have an eppi pin on the house.
Ahh u are right I didn't think of that, obviously the story is false, there are so many fake stories out there it's sad
The DA does NOT decide charges, they only defend people and try to get charges reduced or dropped. Anyone and everyone can file charges with the police, who then go over the information and decide what they can move forward with. If they think something warrants criminal charges, they will press charges which will be finalized by the Prosecutors' office. Also, I know several people who lose epi pens or couldn't afford them due to no insurance. This post's situation was several years ago, so possibly back when it was common to not have insurance.
A district attorney doesn't defend people. He prosecutes people. The charges are determined by the LAW. No person can determine what a charge should be and file it. Laws describe what a crime is and what level of crime it is and District Attorneys prosecute. It is at their discretion to determine if they have a case they can prosecute.
It is illegal to pretend food is one thing when it is another. That counts as "tampering". For example, there was a major lawsuit when soda shops would simply sell customers glasses of Pepsi when they asked for Coke, without telling them, because Pepsi wasn't widely known at the time. The shops and Pepsi lost because you can't lie to people about their food with the intent to deceive. If the event hadn't been filmed, she likely could have argued that she had called it bacon, because it was soy bacon, and it was a misunderstanding. There would have been a lot more wiggle room. But since they had footage of her pulling a "gotcha!" reveal, then it's pretty obvious she had been deceptive and purposely lied about the nature of the food. Their hands would be tied due to the undeniable evidence fitting the technical definition. It does seem the court/ judge realized it wasn't malicious since they didn't give any jail time, and the lowest possible punishment.
A person shouldn’t have to pay for her medical bills. The OP is ignorant and she caused the whole mess by being a thirsty twat.
Legally speaking, wrong. I'm sorry, but don't call names when you apparently don't understand law.
OP is definitely an a**hole. I understand making her pay for your bills and suing her for refusing to. But a felony charge is not cool. You ruined her life because YOU didn't disclose your DEADLY allergic to soy. My friend is deadly allergic to pork, and ALWAYS discloses that anytime she isn't preparing her own food. If someone makes her chicken with broccoli she'll be like, "fyi, I'm literally deathly allergic to pork". This has saved her numerous times. In that instance the person was like, "oh my god! I'm so glad you told me. I actually used leftover bacon fat for roasting the broccoli"
Especially with something as common as soy! Soy is in everything! Most of the time not a main ingredient, but it is still in there somehow.
You aren't kidding. Former chef and soy is snuck in a lot of things! Stuff you wouldn't expect, we had to be very careful. In a lot of processed foods too. It's also a major allergen so a lot of people are allergic or intolerant of it.
Soy is in pretty much EVERY processed food and it goes by a lot of names that aren't soy.
Exactly. The only fault I can see of the vegan is that she didn't ask if anyone had allergies - perhaps she's a new vegan? It's not something that people consider asking when they never had to before as a non-vegan. Surprising people with vegan food is so common and usually a positive experience for a lot of people. What a way for that girl to take advantage of the situation.
I see a big difference if someone accidentally roast broccoli on lard or if they DELIBERATELY lie because they want to aggressively force their lifestyle on others
Like OP would care about anyone besides herself. She didn't mind to ruin and f**k someone's life because her own "mistake" (sure... "forgeting" to tell the one who is cooking for them in their own apartament about their deathly alergies sound very inocent... Right?) It seems OP hadn't any clear o good intention by the beginning, first reporting it to the police and only THEN asking about paying medical debt. Seems she was really aiming hard to ruin Erin's life. And NOW she asks she is the a*s? Should have asked BEFORE ruining the poor roommate's life.
I agree, OP is a monster or a complete idiot who expects the whole world to know everything about them.
Moreover Erin told op that she is a vegan before she move in.how can op not know wat Erin cooking that day.op own carelessness that cause herself allergy.poor Erin was just wanting to b nice
as someone who has deadly allergies. esh. erin for tricking op and op for not didclosing her allergies. everyone who has deadly allergies knows the number one rule: if someone makes food for you, TELL THEM YOUR ALLERGIES!!!!
And the number 2 rule is to check the ingredients yourself because it's not the cook's responsibility to know every alternate name an allergen might be called. I've had people (even ones in medicine) say yeah white flour is safe for my wheat allergy. I say no, it's the same wheat grain. These people aren't trying to kill me, they just don't realize things, so as the one with the allergies I always double check.
You can tell what fake bacon looks like immediately. My family calls it "fakon". The smell and taste are obviously off as well. For some it may be a substitute, but it really isn't a match. I have a hard time seeing how this got by you.
I concur. I tried going vegetarian, and I hated the taste of fakon I also hate turkey bacon. I'm still tripping about the part of the story where OP says "I started eating and everything tastes a little off.", but THEY KEEP EATING. Why would they keep eating if everything tasted off?!?!?!
Caught that too. Many aspects of this story that scream b.s.
omg we also call it fakon!
It makes perfect sense, but you're the first others that I've knowingly encountered.
Definitely both are the assholes here. The roommate is at fault for feeding OP something that she lied about, but also OP is at fault for not disclosing allergies, which could’ve gotten her killed. If it weren’t for OPs stupidity, the roomate would not have served OP an allergen and this whole mess could’ve been avoided. Yes, sure, food tampering is a felony (and rightfully so) but not mentioning allergies is a very stupid thing to do especially if you know that it could cause such a grave reaction. ESH
"Erin" didn't knowingly and deliberately add a foreign substance she knew to be harmful to the food. She didn't add anything at all to it. Simply not disclosing the ingredients (when she wasn't asked to begin with and wasn't aware of any reason why she should) is not food tampering. I don't know where the OP got that nonsense.
Yes! Thank you John! This would not hold up well under Food Tampering. This story is absurd for insinuating this. Plus, by making it look like the OP got away with charging the roommate with a felony over this, this story contributes to a bleak image of the US courts and their logic. As the roommate did make that breakfast with good (although self-serving) intentions, I feel that by saying the courts found her guilty of the food tampering felony, this post makes the system look hopeless.
The idea that the OP could have the roommate charged with food tampering is completely silly. DAs determine charges. There could be room for a charge here but nothing so severe.
To be honest, I'm not sure I even believe the story.
Erin WAS asked what the ingredient were. She lied about the ingredients. That is tampering.
Wrong, not food tampering. It could be criminal negligence, but it is not food tampering and I seriously doubt it is a felony. Now if Erin had replaced OP's bacon with fake bacon without informing her and tried to make it look like it was the OP's original bacon and the OP ate it and had this reaction, then that would be food tampering. This was misleading but the food wasn't tampered with.
(The idea that this story is a fake aside...)The original poster only says they asked "what was in the food". They didn't say they asked for a list of every detailed ingredient, and they most certainly didn't seem to infer that something could be dangerous. Plus as this occurred in a private setting, that makes this all the murkier. It's not like a business just lied to a customer, a roommate made breakfast that she thought was Safe and Healthy for everyone involved. I doubt this would be found guilty of a felony in either fraud or tampering.
That's not tampering. But it is a form of fraud. Different crime which means it might be a different severity. She may not be guilty of a felony.
Not really. She said bacon, and to Erin it is just bacon. That technicality alone would be able to save her in court if this story was real
How is lying or withholding information tampering?
Erin told op she is a vegan before move in.
Amateur & wannabe attorneys are almost always assholes.
So are real ones.
I dont think so... the vegan tried to force her lifestyle on others, she was the one who tricked them on purpose... if she agreed to cover the hospital bill right away she wouldnt get sued... she got what she deserved
Get help
She served them fake bacon to see if they could tell the difference. Annoying and fits the vegan/vegetarian stereotype, sure. But it was a harmless thing to do. It's OP's fault that she didn't disclose her allergen to the new roommate who didn't know she was allergic to anything
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She asked what was being served. Was she then supposed to assume she was being lied to? You do get the reason she asked was because of her allergies, which would have obviously been mentioned if her roommate didn't trick her.
I still would have said, "because I'm highly allergic to soy", is why I asked.
I'm unsure if she is the AH. The vegetarian is definetly the AH for not disclosing the info. Vegetarian definetly should foot the medical bill. I get that the only way to make a justified sue a sure thing is to press charges. But, the legal consequences Vegetarian faced seem extreme. Especially since OP didn't say "The reason why I'm asking abou the food is I'm deathly allergic to a few things." She's telling the internet her allergies so it's not that private. If you have deathly allergies and roomates, you should tell the roomates what they are. A vegitarian is going to cook soy food. There could be cross examination. It's your business to inform of allergies. Not there's to try to find out.
Yep. You should definitely tell roommates your allergies. However, I repeatedly tell people I live what I'm allergic to, and they repeatedly forget. "Just want to remind you that I'm allergic to raw tomatoes." Roommate makes salad with tomatoes in it. "Jesus, Brad! We just talk about this, like, five minutes ago!" Brad's dumb*as response: "I forgot. You could just pick them out." No, Brad! I can't! (Brad no longer lives here.)
People are just ignorant. Sadly sometimes the ones with allergies too. I had a friend who complained when he said no onion when he was allergic and he could tell they put it on then took it off. I said "you didn't say specifically an allergy there's a difference" and explained if he said "allergy" the knife and counter, gloves everything would be clean so no cross contamination. If they accidentally put onions on they would remake it completely. He understood after but it just didn't occur to him and he had the allergy.
The author should have made it patently clear to the new housemate of her allergies before she moved in. The roommate did pull a nasty type of trick but she did not have the intention to make you ill, she simply did not know of the author’s allergy to soya. Also, why did the author not have instant access to an epi pen? I think the author should be ashamed for putting someone into financial difficulties and do something to alleviate Erin’s hardship even after such a long time. The author cannot assume everyone knows of her allergies, it her responsibility to inform people.
I say YTA. I get that you got to the hospital which was unpleasant and life threatening and also expensive ( Long live the US). BUT she didnt mean to cause any harm she just wanted to surprise you and see if you like vegetarian food or not. she wanted your unbiased genuine reaction. You sholud have agreed ( ideally without police and court) that she would cover your medical bills plus maybe some extra money for the trouble. I dont exactly know what is inluded in felony but it sounds as something from the criminal code. Her life is now ruined completely. You should have told her about your allergies and if you saw something is off with the bacon you should have asked if it is meatless or regular. she said it was bacon and for her it was. it is called bacon so for her it is bacon she wasnt lying. it was natural for her. you did not wonder that a vegetarian is cooking with meat? you should have explicitely asked about soy. it was a typical vegetarian d**k move but YT bigger A than her.
Okay but OP also knew this girl was a vegetarian... why would a vegetarian go out and buy tons of meat to make a bunch of strangers breakfast.... like, I think that there were plenty of context clues pointing at what she was doing and all of this could have been avoided is OP just said "ok, I'm not allergic to bacon but i Am extremely allergic to soy so if you're making anything with soy please tell me" And can someone please show me where to get FAKE bacon that actually looks and tastes like real bacon? Because I've been mainly plant based for years and I haven't found one fake bacon product that doesn't look/smell/taste like the furthest thing from bacon... fake bacon looks SO much different than real bacon. How could you not tell?
Agree 100%. Maybe they're Canadian?
This sounds so very fake. If you have a major food allergy, you tell people you live with.
Plus you have Epi-pens, liquid and chewable Benadryl, and Prednisone all on hand (even out of the house) to start when the allergy pops up. If she had done any of those things she would have avoided a 2 day hospital stay. Plus if she's that highly allergic, why didn't she start to react while the food is cooking? My roommates knew my allergies and would warn me so I could stay out if they were cooking fish. Plus I would take a dose of Benadryl as a preventative before stepping foot in the house (or even eating out, which I rarely do because I take responsibility for my allergies).
The only point that I can see that OP is, truly, ATA is that she didn't disclose her allergies at the start. If she is as deathly allergic as she says any cross contamination would result in the same thing happening. The onus is on her to protect herself. It's amazing the comments I see crucifying the roommate along with OP while holding OP out as a blameless victim.
You are absolutely the ass hole. You idiot you have a life threatening food allergy to one or maybe more food items and u never told your room mate. The girl just moved in.. How was she supposed to know. You need to mention this immediately to everyone who knows u. And teach them how to use the pen. Why didn't u examine all the ingredients yourself. Processed food has a million items many with 2 names and to someone with no allergies this would never cross their mind before they are told. She should have been told as soon as she walked in the door so that she never left the soy or whatever It was lying around or came in contact with any of your stuff or in case of something like a spillage soshe knew the importance of cross contamination. But no instead u sat down asked her what was in it and never told her your allergy situation and ate the food.... Every idiot out there knows vegans substitute meat/meals for other items like soy or god knows what. Anyone with an allergy will say it
New roomates should immediately share information about any health conditions they have. So then if you see them collapsed on the floor you might have an idea about what's going on to tell the paramedics or possibly give the correct life-saving aid yourself.
The op is definitely at fault imo. I bet she lies in her bed every night, feeling like sh*t about ruining Erin's life
Ive got tons of allergies and I am leaning towards middle here. OP did overkill in response, but OP should have disclosed allergies (like I do). Erin shouldn't have lied, but since there's no intent to harm via an attack on allergies, going to cops is overkill. Making her pay for the hospital visit is reasonable. In my own case I had something like this happen at a restaurant. They didn't disclose a deadly ingredient. Instead of being an asshole and suing them for the hospital visit, I realised I was an idiot for not checking, so I didn't sue. However in this case the person lied and deserved the lawsuit at least.
Both parties are AH. Roommate is an AH for attempting to trick the other two girls into thinking their eating meat when it's not. However, OP is AH for taking such a drastic measure in handling the situation which resulted one person's life is ruined. I just feel this could've been handled in much better way that could beneficial and fair for both parties.
*They're (teehee!)
Two stupids at least. Assholes - one at least. OP is.
+ how come I never get any allergic reactions anymore, despite having some allergies? I tell every doctor I visit to NEVER ever prescribe me Ibuprofen, other NSAR and a few other pretty common meds I am allergic to. Also, an allergy test a few years ago showed a slight reaction to chicken's egg, but as I was a vegan already then, I don't know ... doc said it may be bad, it may be insignificant, but as I won't try above trace-level eggs being in any food, ... I guess I'm kinda safe (at least, the traces that MAY be inside stuff either aren't there at all - purposefuly put in, I am sure aren't - , or not enough to cause a reaction, which tells me that is isn't severe).
she should have told the girl about her food allergies when she moved in and before any food was put in the fridge what would have happened if some of food cross contaminated and she had eaten this food and was alone she might have died because she wouldn't have known what she ate i don't understand why she did not tell this girl when moving in hey im allergic to certain things if your food contains any of that to keep it away from hers it could have avoided this whole situation and the other girls life wouldn't be ruined and she would not have almost died
This is why I only eat free-range vegetarians.
But they contain lots of soy; so, still not good for OP.
LOL
Aren't they a little tough and stringy, though?
You have to marinate them first.
If this is real, know karma is too. I've done nice things for people & ended up with nothing, literally nothing for helping. I pray you get the karma you deserve for screwing up someone's life. Every time you have an allergic reaction, I pray you know you deserve it. You didn't specify allergies, which is life threatening, therefore, she didn't have to specify every detail either. You lied by omission & should be counter sued. I would be the lawyer to do just that. This post proves you lied by omission & that's all the judge would need to see. How about we help this women give you a dose of your own medicine.
You're definitely the bitch in this situation. You ruined years off that girls life because she was a little quirky in her decision making. Obviously she was trying to be nice to you - but also that fun roommate that brings new things to the table (pun intended) as a way to start conversation. The responsibility of letting people know your allergies fell every bit on your shoulders. But dude.. You took her to COURT as if this was planned like she **tried** to poison you! What the f*** is wrong with you? What if you made that mistake? If you were in her shoes would you say your treatment was justified? Lol I bet you're the type of person who demands a free meal at a restaurant when your steak isn't cooked the exact way you like it. So tired of f****** Karen's, go eat some soy.
Wow...I think everyone is an A.H., bit the O.P. is a big,nasty one with pus oozing roids and moldy dingleberries. Erin shouldn't have tried to slip the fake stuff in for the "gotcha, it's vegan and you liked it so now this can be a meat free house" agenda crap...But O.P. has a potentially fatal allergy to soy and took in a VEGAN roommate. Did they not realize that Erin's vegan food, which is very likely to contain soy, would be in the kitchen and possibly mixing with the non soy food? Did that thought ever cross their mind? I would think most folks that have a serious allergy to something would want to keep it out of the house as much as possible. How was the subject not brought up during the roommate interview? That's why I think O.P. is the biggest A.H. of the 2.
Why would you let a vegetarian move in with you without telling them about your allergy if you're deathly allergic to soy? You know that it's probably going to be a large part of their cuisine and theres a risk of cross contamination. Deliberately lying about the food you're serving is a d**k move and the person who lied should absolutely have been sued for the medical costs but going to law enforcement was a bit far.
This sounds like a whole bunch of assholes having breakfast together. Sue for medical bills? Yes. Felony food tampering? Give me a f*****g break.
I'm deathly allergic to 2 things and everyone knows it and knows where my epipen is. If I fail to tell someone I'm deathly allergic to something and then go stuff my face with it I'm not going to be blaming and especially filing charges on the other person. Sounds like a c**t who doesn't like vegans. (not a vegan myself mind you, but wtf does it matter if she was vegan and moving in, sounds like she already had a problem.
Honestly, I think the entire thing is made up. There is absolutely no way a charge would stick when the girl was never told about the allergies. And no person with anaphylactic level allergies would eat something cooked by a stranger. Especially an ingredient like soy which is buried in SO many things. I have a sensitivity to soy, so I am well aware of how often it shows up in things. It's all bullshit. Period.
Not only should OP have told about her allergy, she should also have been extremely suspicious of a vegetarian cooking bacon for others. Not a single one of all the many vegetarians I know would ever do that, not even to just be polite. Also, it's hard to confuse with real bacon. And it tasted off, but she kept eating?! What a nasty person to not take any r