Vegetarian offered pâté loses discrimination case against Sheridan's Cheesemongers

A VEGETARIAN CUSTOMER who took a sample of pâté from a tasting display of one of the country’s best-known cheesemongers has lost a claim that she was discriminated against on religious grounds.

The Workplace Relations Commission ruled that Sheridan’s Cheesemongers had not breached the Equal Status Act as claimed by Vanessa Maria Corral Fernandez over the incident at one of the company’s retail concessions on 6 June 2025 when she felt “sick to [her] stomach.”

Corral Fernandez claimed she saw a food-sampling display with a sign that referenced hummus, pesto and olives.

The WRC heard that she was informed by a member of staff before she had consumed any sample that the product was pâté.

As a vegetarian, Corral Fernandez complained the sign was misleading and had deprived her of making an informed choice, claiming it constituted direct discrimination on religious grounds.

She claimed her vegetarianism was aligned with her spiritual beliefs in Hinduism.

Corral Fernandez accepted she did not consume the pâté but had felt sick to her stomach at the thought that she might have consumed meat.

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The company’s managing director, Kevin Sheridan, denied that the complainant had been discriminated against on religious grounds.

Sheridan said a tasting board contained samples of pâté served on crackers and containers of pâté were positioned beside the tasting area.

He explained the signage related to a separate promotional offer and was not intended to describe the pâté samples.

Sheridan said the display was available to all customers and was not presented differently to Corral Fernandez, while staff were unaware of her religious beliefs.

He argued the matter at most related to the clarity of the sign and how the customer’s dissatisfaction was addressed, neither of which constitutes religious discrimination.

Dismissing the complaint, WRC adjudication official Christina Ryan said she accepted that vegetarianism in particular circumstances may form part of a person’s religious or spiritual practice.

However, Ryan said that fact was not sufficient to establish discrimination under the relevant legislation and her complaint had focused on food labelling, sampling rules and customer services rather than religion.

She pointed out that there was no evidence that the cheesemonger’s staff knew Corral Fernandez held any religious belief or that the signage or food samples were displayed differently to her than to other customers.