12-year-old dies after fatal allergic reaction to milkshake

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A 12-year-old girl is dead after drinking a milkshake sold at a London café that failed to follow food safety legislations.

The incident could have been “prevented so simply,” and “only adds to the [heartbreak],” says the parents of the schoolgirl who died after having a severe allergic reaction to the shake that was made in a dirty blender, which had deadly traces of nuts.

A devastating incident in South-East London has left a family heartbroken after 12-year-old Mia St Hilaire suffered a fatal allergic reaction from a milkshake at the Pop Inn Café on Southwark Park Road, according to BBC.

Mia had a known tree nut allergy and, in the summer of 2023, after visiting the store, the young schoolgirl had a severe reaction to the shake that was believed to contain traces of hazelnuts and almonds from a previous milkshake made in the same machine.

She was rushed to hospital where she died on August 30, 2023.

Unwashed blender

Following Mia’s heartbreaking death, Southwark Council’s food safety team launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident. Their findings pointed to a devastating mistake: traces of hazelnuts and almonds were present in the milkshake Mia had consumed.

The investigation uncovered CCTV footage showing that the café’s operator, Baris Yucel, 47, failed to clean the blender before preparing Mia’s drink. Residue from a previous milkshake, containing tree nuts, remained in the machine, ultimately causing a severe allergic reaction that led to her tragic death.

Southwark Council argued that this lack of basic food safety measures directly contributed to Mia’s passing – a tragedy that could have been avoided.

On December 2, 2024, at Croydon Magistrates’ Court, Yucel pleaded guilty to all six criminal charges brought against him, including failure to provide allergen information for customers, failure to prevent cross-contamination during food preparation and serving food containing an undisclosed allergen – a mistake that proved fatal.

Your Local Guardian reports that Yucel has “shown genuine remorse,” and “has had to live with the consequences (of) what happened.” His lawyer adds that “a day does not go by when he does not think about the child and her family.”

On January 24, 2025, the court fined the café owner $23,000 US and sentenced him to 100 hours of community service.

Food safety

Meanwhile, Leigh Day Law Firm, the lawyers representing the St. Hilaire family, writes in a release that “no outcome will ever make up for the loss [the family] have suffered.”

“Mia and all other children with allergies should be able to feel safe knowing that businesses serving food and drink adhere to food safety legislation put in place to protect their lives. But unfortunately, far too often we see that this doesn’t happen, which can have tragic consequences such as in this case,” the law firm shared.

While this penalty highlights the legal consequences of neglecting food safety regulations, for Mia’s family, no punishment can undo their devastating loss.

In a statement shared on the lawyer’s website, the grieving parents – Adrian and Chanel – said, “We think of Mia every day and knowing her death could potentially have been prevented so simply, only adds to how heartbroken we are as a family.”

The message continues, “We hope this conviction and fine sends a loud message to businesses serving food and drinks across the country, of the devastating consequences of failing to take food safety seriously.”

Since Mia’s death, an enforcement officer from the council has made several visits to the cafe to ensure procedures to prevent a similar incident are being maintained.

An inquest into Mia’s death is set to take place soon, aiming to provide more insight into what went wrong and how such incidents can be prevented in the future.

This case raises serious questions about the accountability of food establishments when it comes to allergen management. Proper training, strict protocols, and clear allergen labeling could have saved Mia’s life – a fact that makes this tragedy even more painful for her grieving family.

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