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A 13-year-old girl died of a severe allergic reaction just hours after taking one sip of a Costa Coffee hot chocolate following a “failure to follow processes”, an inquest concluded on Friday.
Hannah Jacobs had a severe dairy allergy and suffered an immediate reaction while out with her mother in Barking, east London, in February 2023 after drinking the beverage, which should have been made with soya milk.
Assistant coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe said: “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.”
The coroner noted that on the day of her death “neither Hannah nor her mother were carrying an EpiPen that had been prescribed”.
In a statement issued by the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, Hannah’s parents called for the government to bring in an “allergy tsar”.
Following the inquest, Hannah’s mother, Abimbola Duyile, paid tribute to her “vivacious, caring, affectionate” daughter who had “everything to live for”.
A member of Ms Duyile’s legal team read a statement outside East London coroner’s court on her behalf, saying: “Having heard all the evidence over the last week, 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.
“Better awareness is really needed in these industries and across society of the symptoms of anaphylaxis. Allowing people who serve food and drinks to retake an allergy training test 20 times is not acceptable.”
A post-mortem examination found Hannah died after suffering from a hypersensitive anaphylactic reaction triggered by an ingredient in her hot chocolate that caused an allergic response.
There was a “failure of communication” between the coffee shop staff and Hannah Jacobs’s mother.
Hannah was allergic to dairy, along with fish and eggs, since she was a toddler, East London Coroner’s Court was told.
Her mother ordered two takeaway soya hot chocolates from the coffee chain before a dental appointment and said her “anger gave way to terror” after her child’s reaction to the drink.
Ms Duyile told the coffee shop staff that her daughter had an allergy and that it was vital for staff to clean the equipment when they made her drink.
In a statement in court, she said Hannah “abruptly got up and went to the toilet and shouted ‘that was not soya milk’”. She said her daughter’s reaction “happened quickly” and she was coughing up phlegm and had chest pains.
Ms Duyile rushed Hannah to a nearby chemist as her “lips and mouth were very swollen and she was itchy”.
“My initial response was of anger to the Costa Coffee staff – it gave way to terror,” she said.
Hannah collapsed in the chemist and a pharmacist administered an EpiPen injection in her leg. Resuscitation attempts began when a customer alerted an ambulance and paramedics arrived to continue resuscitation efforts. Hannah was eventually rushed to the hospital where she was declared dead.
Her mother said in a statement: “Hannah was just entering adolescence and learning to be independent, taking ownership of her allergies when she was tragically taken from us.
“She had known from a young age what her allergies were and took them very seriously. I have always been extremely diligent in managing Hannah’s allergies, and she had never suffered a serious allergic reaction prior to this incident.
“Hannah loved life. She was a vivacious, caring, affectionate, outspoken and energetic child with a strong sense of right and wrong. Hannah had everything to live for and was so full of life and promise.”
The parents of 15-year-old Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, who died in 2016 after suffering a severe allergic reaction to sesame baked into a Pret-a-Manger baguette, have called for “urgent” government action to “improve understanding” of allergies across schools, businesses and society generally
Nadim and Tanya Ednan-Laperouse, co-founders of The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, a food allergy charity, said: “Today, along with Hannah’s grief-stricken mum Abi and on behalf of other parents who have lost children to food allergies, we once again urge the government to appoint an allergy tsar – a national champion for the one in three people who live not just with food allergies, but all types of allergic disease including asthma and eczema.”
The inquest heard that, at the time of Hannah’s death on 8 February, 2023, allergen training for new Costa staff involved online modules that could be accessed at home and a quiz that trainees had to pass.