Mum whose daughter was killed by Costa hot chocolate slams food industry over poor allergen safety training
A MUM has accused the food industry of treating allergen safety training as a “tick-box exercise” after a Costa hot chocolate killed her daughter.
Hannah Jacobs, 13, who was allergic to dairy products, died from one sip.
An inquest yesterday concluded staff procedure was not followed and there had been a failure of communication.
Mum Abimbola Duyile said she ordered two soya hot chocolates, told staff of Hannah’s allergies and asked them to wash the jug used to make the drinks.
But a post-mortem found Hannah died after an ingredient in her drink triggered a severe allergic response.
After the inquest, Ms Duyile said: “It is clear to me that although the food service industry and medical professionals are required to have allergy training, the training is really not taken seriously enough.”
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She added: “Treating allergy training as a tick-box exercise is not acceptable.”
Hannah died within hours of sipping the drink at a Costa in Barking, East London, in February last year.
Coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe told East London coroner’s court: “The root cause of this death is a failure to follow the processes in place to discuss allergies combined with a failure of communication between the mother and the barista.”
Costa said following the inquest: “Understanding how this awful situation occurred is in the interest of everyone”.