Family of 12-Year-Old Girl Who Died After Drinking Milkshake Calls for Separate Allergy Safety Ratings

The family of a 12-year-old girl who suffered a fatal allergic reaction after drinking a milkshake at a London cafe have urged the government and food industry to introduce a dedicated rating system that would score restaurants and cafes specifically on how well they manage allergens.

Mia St Hilaire, who had a severe tree nut allergy, died in August 2023 after consuming a Twix milkshake at the Pop Inn Cafe in Bermondsey, south-east London. An inquest held at London Inner South Coroner's Court concluded on Thursday that her drink had been contaminated with hazelnut residue because the blender used to make it had not been washed after a Kinder Bueno milkshake was prepared in it beforehand.

Assistant coroner Briony Ballard, who heard evidence during the hearing, delivered a narrative conclusion on the circumstances of Mia's death. The finding confirmed what had already emerged during earlier criminal proceedings: that cross-contamination at the cafe directly led to the anaphylactic shock that killed the schoolgirl.

In a statement released following the conclusion of the inquest, Mia's parents, Adrian St Hilaire and Chanel Spence, said "significant changes" were required to protect people living with food allergies. They argued that families should not have to put themselves "at risk" simply by choosing to eat out.

The couple emphasised that consumers routinely depend on food hygiene ratings when deciding where it is safe to eat, but pointed out that those ratings reveal nothing about how a business handles allergen management. They called for a separate, clearly displayed rating dedicated to allergy management, similar in format to the existing food hygiene scheme, so that people with allergies can make more informed choices about where to dine.

Mia's case had already resulted in criminal sanctions. In January 2025, the Pop Inn Cafe was fined £18,000, and its proprietor, Baris Yucel, was ordered to complete 100 hours of community service after admitting six criminal charges brought under the Food Safety Act.

Those charges included failing to make allergen advice available or visible to consumers, failing to manage allergen contamination during the food production process, and serving food that contained an allergenic ingredient that was not supposed to be present. CCTV evidence presented during the proceedings showed that Yucel had not cleaned the blender before preparing Mia's milkshake.

The inquest's conclusion has renewed attention on the broader question of how food businesses communicate allergen risks. Natasha's Foundation founder Tanya Ednan-Laperouse, whose own 15-year-old daughter died from an allergic reaction to sesame in a Pret A Manger baguette, described allergies as "a serious, unpredictable medical condition."

She said the inquest into Mia's death illustrates how far society still has to go in improving awareness, understanding and regulation of food allergies. The foundation, she added, is working with businesses, schools, communities and the government to increase awareness and understanding in an effort to prevent other families from experiencing the same terrible loss that Mia's family continue to endure.

Rebecca Sudworth, director of food policy at the Food Standards Agency, expressed her "deepest sympathies" to Mia's family. She stressed that food businesses must take allergen risks seriously on every occasion, noting that people have the right to know exactly what is in their food and drink and that providing accurate allergen information is a legal duty.

Sudworth also pointed to new guidance recently produced for businesses to help them understand their responsibilities to inform consumers about allergens, including the risk of cross-contact. She said the agency is keeping the policy under review and offers free allergy training and practical tools that businesses can use.

The family's call for an allergy management rating adds a new dimension to an ongoing debate about how best to prevent fatal reactions in food service settings. Unlike hygiene ratings, which focus on cleanliness, storage temperatures and pest control, an allergy rating would assess whether staff are trained to handle allergen requests, whether cross-contamination risks are properly controlled, and whether accurate written allergen information is readily available to customers.

For Mia's family, the proposed rating is not an abstract policy idea but a direct response to the loss of their "deeply loved" daughter. In their statement, they said they hoped lessons would be learned from Mia's death and that changes would be made to prevent other families from enduring the devastation they now live with.

The inquest heard evidence over the course of proceedings before the coroner published her narrative conclusion on Thursday. A narrative conclusion allows a coroner to set out the factual circumstances surrounding a death without assigning simple labels such as accident or misadventure, and in this case it confirmed the sequence of events that led to the fatal contamination.

The case has also drawn attention to the practical realities of running a cafe kitchen, where blenders and other shared equipment can easily carry traces of allergens from one drink to the next. For people with severe allergies, even a tiny amount of residue can trigger a life-threatening reaction, making thorough cleaning between orders a critical safety measure rather than a matter of routine convenience.

Mia's parents said their daughter would never be forgotten, and they framed their campaign as a way of turning their grief into something that could protect others. Whether ministers and regulators ultimately act on the call for a dedicated allergy rating remains to be seen, but the inquest has ensured that the question of how food businesses are held accountable for allergen safety will remain in the public eye.