Hannah Jacobs died within an hour after one sip of hot chocolate from Costa Coffee while out with her mother. The 13-year-old had severe allergies to eggs, fish, and dairy since she was a toddler. According to the assistant coroner, a “failure of communication” between Hannah’s mother and the coffee shop staff led to the hot chocolate being prepared with cow milk instead of soy. Today, Jacob’s mother, Abimbola Duyile, is calling for better allergy training in food establishments as well as overall allergy awareness.
“That was not soya milk!”
On February 8, 2023, Hannah and Duyile bought two hot chocolates from Costa Coffee on the way to Jacobs’ dentist appointment. Duyile claims that she had ordered two soy hot chocolates and asked the staff to clean the equipment before they made it. However, the inquest shows the drink may have been made with dairy. Additionally, Duyile was not shown the list of ingredients, which is required for Costa staff when they are preparing foods for patrons with allergies.
The mother and daughter took the drinks to Hannah’s dentist appointment. There, Hannah took a sip of the hot chocolate and shouted, “That was not soya milk,” before suffering an immediate reaction. Duyile rushed her to a nearby pharmacy where the 13-year-old passed out and a pharmacist injected her with a junior Epipen. Soon after, an ambulance came to take her to Newham hospital, where she was declared dead.
The post-mortem examination indicated that Hannah died from an anaphylactic reaction caused by an ingredient in her hot chocolate.
The inquest
At London Coroner’s Court in August 2024, Urmi Akter, the barista that had served the pair, said she had repeated Duyile’s request to wash out the jug “because my daughter has a dairy allergy”. Akter pointed out the hot chocolate is made from milk and admitted she did not show Duyile the book that lists all food ingredients and preparations, against Costa’s policy, which says to show it to anyone who requests a non-dairy version or says they have an allergy.
Akter claimed, “I did not show the mother the book as she told me washing the jug was fine. I thought she, as the mother, would know more about [it]. I gave her the drink she requested.” Akter did not answer a series of questions regarding her training and actions surrounding the order, as is her legal right under coroners’ rules.
Duyile told the inquest she was being “extra picky” while ordering the hot chocolates and gave such specific instructions she “might sound like a crazy mum” but she wanted “to be straight with the staff”.
The pharmacist at the scene, Santokh Kahlon, said there was a shortage of EpiPens at the time, but he would have used another if they had found any.
The root cause of death
According to assistant coroner Dr. Shirley Radcliffe, “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.” She also noted that “neither Hannah nor her mother were carrying an EpiPen that had been prescribed”.
The inquest also examined the training required for Costa staff regarding allergens, which only involves an online quiz. One employee took the quiz 20 times before passing.
“Everybody needs to change their ways,” said Duyile to BBC. “If you’re training somebody, they can’t understand the allergen on the company website and it’s taken them 20 times to do it over again, you need to ask yourself, ‘[is] something off here?’ Your staff should know what goes in everything. This should be a common basic thing. Every single person [in] restaurants, coffee shops need to know.”
Life without Hannah
The grieving mother said Hannah’s death has turned her life “upside down”. “Most nights I stay awake thinking maybe there is something I could have done differently… Maybe carrying an EpiPen with me. “
Her statement at the inquest said, “My beautiful Hannah only had 13 years on this earth when she should have had many, many more… Having heard all the evidence over the last week it is clear to me that although the food service industry and medical professionals are required to have allergy training, this training is really not taken seriously enough. Better awareness is needed in these industries and across society of the symptoms of anaphylaxis.”
She added, “I have always been extremely diligent in managing Hannah’s allergies and she had never suffered a serious allergic reaction prior to this incident.”
Changing for the better
A Costa Coffee spokesperson gave a statement calling Hannah’s death a “tragedy and our heartfelt thoughts remain with her family and friends. We have strict allergy training and procedures in place to help to minimize the risk to those customers who suffer from allergens; however, we agree with the coroner’s conclusion that our allergen process was not followed that day at our franchise partner store.”
Additionally, Costa pledged to review staff training as well as collaborate with the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, which is a charity raising awareness about allergies.
Similarly, a spokesperson from the Department of Health in the UK gave the following statement. “We have been in ongoing discussions with the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation about improving support for people with allergies and ministers will carefully consider their views and any recommendations made by the coroner following the tragic death of Hannah Jacobs.”