Mother of girl who died after Costa drink says allergen training not a ‘tick-box exercise’

The mother of a 13-year-old girl who died after one sip of a Costa Coffee hot chocolate has pleaded that allergen training isn’t “a tick-box exercise”.

Hannah Jacobs, who died in February 2023, had a severe dairy allergy, and immediately began reacting after the drink, which should have been made with soya milk, wasn’t.

“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”, said assistant coroner, Dr Shirley Radcliffe.

Ms Duyile, Hannah’s mother, added in a statement: “The training is really not taken seriously enough.”