An inquest found ‘failure to follow allergies processes’
A 13-year-old girl with a severe dairy allergy tragically died after drinking a sip of Costa hot chocolate.
An inquest into the girl’s death found that there had been a “failure to follow the processes in place to discuss allergies.”
Hannah Jacobs from Barking, East London, had been severely allergic to dairy, fish, and eggs since she was a toddler and died only hours after sipping the drink purchased by her mother on 8 February 2023.
She was described as “vivacious, caring, affectionate, energetic, and outspoken… with a strong sense of right and wrong”.
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.”
It was noted by the coroner that “neither Hannah or her mother were carrying an epi-pen that had been prescribed” in case she was ever exposed to the allergen.
Hannah’s mother released a statement after the inquest in which she noted that she was “extremely diligent” of her allergies and that her daughter took them “very seriously”.
She said: “My beautiful Hannah only had 13 years on this Earth when she should have had many, many more.
She added that allergy training “is not taken seriously enough” and that treating it as a “tick box exercise is not acceptable”.
According to the inquest, at the time of Hannah’s death allergen training for new Costa staff concerned a series of online modules that could be repeatedly taken until answers were correct.
Costa Coffee said in a statement: “The loss of Hannah is a tragedy, and our heartfelt thoughts remain with her family and friends.
