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Death prompts call for allergy management ratings - Published The family of a 12-year-old girl who died after drinking a milkshake made in an unwashed blender at a cafe have called for a dedicated rating that scores food businesses on their allergy management. Mia St Hilaire, who had a tree nut allergy, suffered an anaphylactic shock and died after she drank a Twix milkshake at the Pop Inn Cafe in Bermondsey, south-east London, in August 2023. Her order contained hazelnut residue because the blender had not been washed after a Kinder Bueno milkshake was made in it beforehand, an inquest concluded on Thursday. In a statement, her family said "significant changes" were needed to protect people with food allergies. In January 2025, the cafe was fined £18,000 and its proprietor Baris Yucel was given 100 hours of community service after admitting six criminal charges related to the Food Safety Act. These included not making allergen advice available or visible to consumers, failing to manage allergen contamination during the food production process, and serving food that contained an allergenic ingredient that was not supposed to be present. CCTV evidence showed that Yucel had not cleaned the blender before preparing Mia's milkshake. Assistant coroner Briony Ballard listened to evidence at London Inner South Coroner's Court before publishing a narrative conclusion on Mia's death. In a statement read after the conclusion of the inquest, Mia's parents Adrian St Hilaire and Chanel Spence said families with food allergies should not be "at risk" when eating out. "We hope that lessons will be learned from Mia's death and that changes will be made to prevent other families enduring the devastation that we now have to live with," they said. "Consumers rely on food hygiene ratings when deciding where it is safe to eat, but they do not tell us anything about the way a food business runs allergy management systems. "There should be a separate, clearly displayed rating dedicated to the allergy management, like the food hygiene rating. "This would mean that people with allergies could make more informed choices about where they eat." Natasha's Foundation founder Tanya Ednan-Laperouse, whose daughter died aged 15 from an allergy to sesame in a Pret A Manger baguette, said allergies were "a serious, unpredictable medical condition". "The inquest into Mia's death illustrates just how far we still have to go to improve awareness, understanding and regulation of food allergies," she said. "Natasha's Foundation is working hard with business, schools, communities and the government to increase awareness and understanding of food allergies to try to prevent other families from having to go through the terrible loss that Mia's family endure." Rebecca Sudworth, director of food policy at the Food Standards Agency, said her "deepest sympathies" were with Mia's family. "Food businesses must take allergen risks seriously, every time," she said. "People have the right to know exactly what is in their food and drink, and it is a business's legal duty to provide accurate allergen information. "We recently produced new guidance for businesses to make sure they understand their responsibilities to inform consumers about allergens, including the risk of cross-contact, and we are keeping this policy under review. We also have free allergy training and practical tools that businesses can use." Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, external, X, external and Instagram, external. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk, external Related topics - Published27 January 2025
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