A 12-year-old girl died after drinking a milkshake made in an unwashed blender at a cafe in south-east London.
Mia St Hilaire had a tree nut allergy and had a severe reaction after her order was believed to contain traces of hazelnuts and almonds from a previous milkshake made in the same machine at the Pop Inn Cafe on Southwark Park Road.
She was taken to hospital where she died in August 2023.
The cafe has been fined £18,000 and its proprietor given 100 hours of community service after admitting six criminal charges related to the Food Safety Act.
Evidence provided by Southwark Council’s food safety team included CCTV evidence showing the cafe’s operator, Baris Yucel, had not cleaned the blender before making Mia’s drink and there were substances left behind from the preparation of a previous milkshake.
Southwark Council argued that this caused her to suffer a severe allergic reaction and that Mia’s death could have been avoided.
Mia’s parents, Adrian and Chanel St Hilaire, said they “think of Mia every day” and “knowing her death could potentially have been prevented so simply only adds to how heartbroken we are as a family”.
An inquest into Mia’s death will take place at a future date.
