A 12-year-old girl passed away after drinking a milkshake from a London café that did not follow food safety laws.
The incident could have been “prevented so simply,” according to the parents of the teenager who died after experiencing a severe allergic reaction to a shake made in a dirty blender that contained deadly traces of nuts, and “only adds to the [heartbreak].”
According to the BBC, a tragic incident occurred in South-East London when 12-year-old Mia St Hilaire passed away from an allergic reaction to a milkshake at the Pop Inn Café on Southwark Park Road, leaving a family distraught.
The drink, believed to contain almond and hazelnut leftovers from a previous milkshake manufactured in the same machine, caused a serious reaction in Mia, a young student with a known tree nut allergy, after she visited the establishment in the summer of 2023.
She was brought to the hospital and died on August 30, 2023.
Blender without cleaning
Following Mia’s untimely death, the Southwark Council’s food safety team launched an investigation into the incident’s circumstances. A terrible mistake was discovered during their investigation: there were traces of almonds and hazelnuts in the milkshake Mia had consumed.
The operator of the café, 47-year-old Baris Yucel, failed to clean the blender before preparing Mia’s drink, according to CCTV evidence discovered during the investigation. The residue from a prior milkshake that contained tree nuts that remained in the machine caused a severe allergic response that ultimately led to her death.
The Southwark Council argued that the lack of basic food safety measures was the direct cause of Mia’s death, which was an avoidable tragedy.
Yucel appeared in Croydon Magistrates’ Court on December 2, 2024, and pleaded guilty to all six of the criminal accusations against him. These allegations included failing to avoid cross-contamination during food preparation, failing to tell customers about allergens, and selling food that included an unreported allergen—a mistake that proved to be fatal.
Yucel has “had to live with the consequences (of) what happened” and “shown genuine remorse,” according to Your Local Guardian. His lawyer goes on to say, “He never goes a day without thinking about the child and her family.”
On January 24, 2025, the court sentenced the café owner to complete 100 hours of community service and imposed a $23,000 US fine.
Security of food
“No outcome will ever make up for the loss [the family] have suffered,” according to a news release from the St. Hilaire family’s lawyers, Leigh Day Law Firm.
Mia and all other children with allergies should feel more at ease knowing that businesses that provide food and drinks abide by the food safety regulations put in place to protect their lives. But this doesn’t happen very often, and it can have terrible outcomes like this one,” the law company stated.
No amount of punishment can make up for the terrible loss of Mia’s family, even though this sentence highlights the legal consequences of breaking food safety regulations.
Adrian and Chanel, Mia’s distraught parents, stated in a statement on the attorney’s website, “We think of Mia every day and knowing her death could have been prevented so simply, only adds to how heartbroken we are as a family.”
The statement reads, “We hope that 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.”
A council enforcement officer has been to the cafe several times after Mia’s death to ensure that procedures are being followed to prevent a repeat of the same incident.
An investigation into Mia’s death is planned soon to provide more insight into what went wrong and how such incidents might be prevented in the future.
This instance raises major concerns about the accountability of food establishments with relation to allergy control. The fact that this tragedy could have been avoided with appropriate training, strict protocols, and clear allergen labeling just makes it worse for Mia’s grieving family.
What are your thoughts on this tragic story? Do you think Yucel’s punishment is adequate? Please share this story so that we can hear from others, and then tell us what you think!
