A teenage girl with a severe dairy allergy died after drinking a Costa Coffee hot chocolate made with cows’ milk due to a “failure to follow the processes in place to discuss allergies”, a coroner has ruled.
Hannah Jacobs, 13, of Barking, east London, died within hours of sipping the drink bought by her mother on 8 February 2023.
Assistant coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe also found there had been “failure of communication” between the coffee shop staff and Hannah Jacobs’ mother.
East London Coroner’s Court heard that on the day of her death “neither Hannah or her mother were carrying an epi-pen that had been prescribed”.
Hannah and her mother Abimbola Duyile visited the Costa Coffee branch in Station Parade, Barking, owned and operated by a franchisee, to buy two soya hot chocolates before Hannah attended the dentist.
Barista Urmi Akter previously said she took the order from Ms Duyile and said she had repeated the mother’s request that a jug be washed out, and pointed out hot chocolate is made from milk.
A post-mortem examination found Hannah died after suffering from a hypersensitive anaphylactic reaction triggered by an ingredient in her hot chocolate that caused an allergic response.
Dr 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.”
