This Morning’s Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield back campaign to ban airlines from serving nuts

Schofield said it was 'time to do something' 
Airline nut ban: Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby voiced their support for the campaign on This Morning
ITV
Aime Grant Cumberbatch5 September 2017

Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield have thrown their support behind a campaign to try and stop airlines serving nuts on planes.

Speaking during a feature on the issue in Tuesday's episode of This Morning, Schofield said: “It’s about time we do something more about it."

The hosts were joined on the ITV chat show by MP Jo Swinson, who has had a nut allergy since childhood, and consumer expert Alice Beer. The pair both backed calls for foods containing nuts to be banned on flights.

Last month, former This Morning producer Amy May Shead appeared on the programme to highlight the severe effect consuming nuts can have for those with allergies.

Shead had been on holiday in Budapest when she mistakenly ate a chicken dish which she was told didn’t contain nuts.

Her subsequent allergic reaction starved her brain of oxygen for nearly six minutes and she was left with permanent brain damage and wheelchair-bound.

Schofield stressed the risk serving nuts on flights could pose, saying: "Obviously, with Amy May’s story we are fully aware that it happened on holiday and that’s how severe it can be [even] when you get treatment.

“When you are at 30,000ft obviously the chances are the outcome will be even more severe.”

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More than 300,000 people have signed a petition created in Shead’s name, calling for nuts to be banned on planes.

Meanwhile Swinson described the experience of having an allergic reaction as ‘terrifying’.

“It’s a terrifying experience to go through. On a flight you do feel particularly vulnerable. It is time to ask the question, is it so important nuts are served or could another snack be served instead?” she said.

Viewers were also informed that the This Morning producers had contacted representatives of 13 different airlines to appear on the programme and all had declined.

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