BOSTON -- A local chef urged lawmakers Wednesday to pass a bill that would mandate restaurants to hang posters to alert customers as to what is in the food.

NewsCenter 5's Gail Huff reported that Ming Tsai and his son were at the Statehouse to discuss the problem. Tsai said that the bill would also require restaurant kitchens to have master recipes so that all restaurant workers know what it is going into a dish.

"It's your duty and responsibility to know what is in your food every day when you serve it," said Tsai, who owns the Wellesley, Mass., restaurant Blue Ginger.

"It's a life and death situation. It is not just, 'Oh, I feel a little sick.' No. You can actually die," Tsai said.

Tsai's 7-year-old son, David, has food allergies. He went into anaphylactic shock when he was 4.

"(I am) allergic to all nuts," David said.

The pair testified for food allergy awareness in restaurants.

"There have been deaths this year in the country and in Massachusetts," Tsai said.

People are most commonly allergic to soy, wheat, dairy, shellfish, fish, eggs, peanuts and tree nuts. Nuts are the most dangerous.

"People don't realize that a molecule of peanut can kill. It is not a jar of peanut butter, but a molecule. It's a public safety issue," Tsai said.