Mia Shay St Hilaire’s family is calling for a separate allergy-management rating for food businesses after the conclusion of her inquest.
LONDON — A 12-year-old girl with a tree nut allergy died after drinking a milkshake contaminated with hazelnut residue left in an unwashed blender at a south London cafe, an inquest into her 2023 death has concluded.
Mia Shay St Hilaire, from Sydenham in southeast London, became seriously ill after drinking a Twix milkshake at the Pop Inn Cafe on Southwark Park Road in Bermondsey while visiting with her aunt and sister in August 2023. Assistant coroner Briony Ballard concluded at London Inner South Coroner’s Court that the drink had been cross-contaminated with hazelnut residue from a Kinder Bueno milkshake previously made in the same blender. Mia developed rapidly progressing anaphylaxis and later died despite emergency hospital treatment.
The inquest, which concluded Oct. 8, focused attention on how the cafe handled allergens and on broader questions about how food businesses communicate and control allergy risks. CCTV evidence showed cafe operator Baris Yucel preparing Mia’s drink without washing the blender after its previous use. Southwark Council, which investigated the cafe after Mia’s death, previously said substances capable of triggering her allergic reaction remained in the equipment.
Mia suffered the allergic reaction on Aug. 27, 2023, and later collapsed at her aunt’s home. She was taken to a hospital and transferred to intensive care at Evelina London Children’s Hospital. She died Aug. 30. The coroner found that the contaminated milkshake caused the severe anaphylactic reaction that led to her death.
Southwark Council brought a food safety prosecution against Yucel following its investigation. He pleaded guilty to six offenses, including failing to make allergen advice available or visible to customers, failing to properly manage allergen contamination during food preparation and serving food that contained an allergenic ingredient that should not have been present. Croydon Magistrates’ Court fined him £18,000 in January 2025 and imposed a 100-hour community order.
The council said its food safety officers found breaches of food law when they inspected the cafe after Mia’s death. An enforcement officer required procedures intended to prevent another incident and returned to check that the measures were being followed. Natasha Ennin, Southwark Council’s cabinet member for community safety and neighbourhoods, said after the prosecution that the incident might have been avoided if basic food safety rules had been followed.
Yucel’s lawyer has said the former cafe operator was remorseful and had not experienced a similar reported incident during more than two decades in the food business. The lawyer also said Yucel took steps after Mia’s death to improve his understanding of allergen safety and pleaded guilty at the first opportunity. He no longer owns or operates the cafe, according to published reports.
After the inquest concluded, Mia’s parents, Adrian St Hilaire and Chanel Spence, called for changes in how food businesses are assessed for allergy safety. They said people with allergies often use food hygiene ratings when deciding where to eat, but those scores do not necessarily tell customers how well a business manages allergens. The family wants a separate, clearly displayed allergy-management rating alongside existing hygiene scores.
“We hope that lessons will be learned from Mia’s death and that changes will be made to prevent other families enduring the devastation that we now have to live with,” her parents said in a statement reported after the inquest. They said a separate allergy rating could give customers more information about how businesses handle risks for people with food allergies.
The family’s call has received support from allergy advocates. Tanya Ednan-Laperouse, founder of Natasha’s Foundation, said the inquest showed that more work remains to improve awareness, understanding and regulation of food allergies. The foundation was established after the death of her 15-year-old daughter, Natasha, who suffered a fatal allergic reaction to sesame in a baguette.
The Food Standards Agency said food businesses have a legal responsibility to give customers accurate allergen information and must take the danger of cross-contact seriously. Rebecca Sudworth, the agency’s director of food policy, said the agency has produced updated guidance for businesses covering their responsibilities and the risk of allergens being transferred between foods or equipment. She said the agency continues to keep its policy under review.
The inquest into Mia’s death has concluded, and the earlier food safety prosecution has been resolved. Her family is now seeking regulatory changes in her memory, including a dedicated allergy-management rating that would allow customers to assess allergen practices separately from a business’s general food hygiene score.
Author note: Last updated October 11, 2026.