Girl died froma sip of Costa Coffee drink after failure to follow allergies processes’

A 13-year-old girl with a severe dairy allergy died after drinking a Costa Coffee hot chocolate following a "failure to follow the processes in place to discuss allergies", an inquest has concluded.

- Caroline Davies

Hannah Jacobs, from Barking, east London, 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 on 8 February 2023, east London coroner's court was told.

Assistant coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe said there had been a "failure of communication" between Hannah's mother and the coffee shop staff, which led to hot chocolate that was made with cow's milk instead of soya milk being served.

Radcliffe said: "The root cause of death is a failure to follow 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 nor her mother were carrying an EpiPen that had been prescribed".

A postmortem found Hannah had died after suffering a hypersensitive anaphylactic reaction triggered by an ingredient in her hot chocolate.

In a statement read by her lawyer outside the inquest, Hannah's mother, Abimbola Duyile, said treating allergy training as a "tick box exercise" was not acceptable.