The death of a 13-year-old girl after she took a sip of Costa Coffee hot chocolate was due to a “failure to follow the processes in place to discuss allergies”, a coroner has ruled.
There was also a “failure of communication” between the staff at the Costa in Barking, east London, and the girl’s mother, East London Coroners’ Court heard on Friday.
Hannah Jacobs, who had been severely allergic to dairy, fish, and eggs since she was a toddler, died within hours of taking a sip of the drink that contained cow’s milk on 8 February 2022.
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 also noted that on the day of her death, “neither Hannah or her mother were carrying an epi-pen that had been prescribed”.
A post-mortem examination found Hannah died of a hypersensitive anaphylactic reaction triggered by an ingredient in her hot chocolate that caused an allergic response.
The inquest heard the teenager had an “immediate reaction” to the beverage, despite her mother ordering two hot chocolates with soya milk.
Her mother, Abimbola Duyile, told the hearing she was rushed to a chemist after drinking the hot chocolate – complaining of chest pains and that her lips and mouth were very swollen and itchy.
Urmi Akter, who served Hannah’s mother, told the court she was asked by her: “Can you wash the jug because my daughter has a dairy allergy?”
Ms Duyile was not shown a book containing dietary requirements – as per Costa’s allergen rules.
In her statement, Ms Akter said she did not show Ms Duyile the book “as she told me washing the jug was fine”.
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