Costa coffee and milk allergy

It was soya milk was ordered , but cows milk was used

Let's not start blaming the Mother. Your judgemental OP. The server used the wring milk.

Our family member who has severe allergies has carried an Epipen at all times from quite an early age. Her schools have also kept Epipens for her use, but have not objected to her carrying her own as well. Schools should allow affected children to carry their own Epipens IMO. Apparently this was a problem for this poor child, as she didn’t have one easily available.

No reason to blame the poor mum, I imagine that right now she is blaming herself more than anyone but what could she have done?
She ordered the drink with soya milk, something she had probs done loads of times before and made sure the barista knew about her daughter’s allergy.
Very, very sad. I imagine the barista feels dreadful too, having made a silly mistake that any other time wouldn’t end in someone’s death.
When a tragedy happens we all try to apportion blame but what good does it do?
I imagine Costa will follow this up with intensive training re-allergies so hopefully it will never happen again.
My thoughts are with the girl’s loved ones. X

We all had training on the use of epipens, and children who needed them very few) kept them in a safe place accessible at all times.
I think the girl who made the drink could barely understand English; she is using an interpreter for the trial(?) inquest (?).

You would think in this situation the mum would be carrying an epipen.. Terribly sad for everyone involved.

aggie

It was soya milk was ordered , but cows milk was used

I think it was soya milk but the equipment had been contaminated in some way with cows milk? A series of mistakes led to this tragedy. I was using something quite obscure in the kitchen the other day that said it might have come into contact with nuts and remember thinking thank goodness no one in my family has allergies. It’s a minefield these days.

This was a terrible thing to happen and her family must be devastated. I feel very sorry for the barista too.

Do they have vegan chocolate at Costas? Most hot chocolate contains the warning 'May contain milk' in the ingredients panel.

They seem to have everything but the kitchen sink.

What a tragedy, though, for all.

In my humble opinion we should not make this a subject for discussion.
Mistakes were made and a child died, it was an awful avoidable tragedy, nothing that can be said here can change that.

Should Costa Coffee staff on minimum wage (or in any other fast food outlet) have life and death responsibilities written into their job contracts? Or the very real potential to be had up in court on a manslaughter charge? Personally, I don't think so.

They are fast food outlets not specialist medical centres. To be serving people who could drop dead because of a microscopic piece of peanut or a jug that hasn't been rinsed is the sort of vigilance you would expect from health care professionals in hospital, not your local cafe.

RIP this poor child.

There’s so much I want to say, but for once I won’t as this is such a tragic thing and the “why’s and wherefores” are now irrelevant for this poor family

It’s a very sad situation.

The employee should have shown the mother the allergy book, though I read she did mention the chocolate mix could have milk in it, and mother said it was fine.

The mother chose to use anti histamines instead of an epi pen.

So many people are now grieving

Sadly there’s also a shortage of epipens and apparently the pharmacy only had childrens ones . I work in dentistry and teenagers often need adult epipens . It all depends on weight and height

I read that it was a misunderstanding between the mother and the server.So very sad.

nanaK54

In my humble opinion we should not make this a subject for discussion.
Mistakes were made and a child died, it was an awful avoidable tragedy, nothing that can be said here can change that.

I take your point but you could say that about about most of the news topics. Not quite sure where this takes us.

Its just very sad....lessons learned for the franchise....devastation for the family .

I think that is a very relevant point flappergirl.

I agree with flappergirl, who has succinctly summed up what I feel about this. It is a tragedy, yes - but if I had a child with those allergies I wouldn't dream of taking them into this sort of establishment where I couldn't control exactly what was happening.

I agree totally. I feel very sorry for the Barista as well as the young girl.
I have Coeliac disease and I would never trust someone with perhaps not a lot of experience in food preparation.It makes me ill,and I am super cautious.
Unfortunately,I think restaurants and cafes won't allow us to eat there soon.
In Italy last year I was asked to leave a restaurant, after I produced a translated explanation of my disease. They were right it was an open kitchen making pizzas.The risk of cross contamination was too high and I knew that I wouldn't have been happy eating there.

I would be very wary of ordering a drink like that in the case of a severe allergy. Even if the right milk was used - what is in the hot chocolate mix itself? Most mixes contain powdered cows milk of some sort.

chocolate? not a good idea to order chocolate whatever the liquid if potentially allergic to cows milk

I wonder how many times a milk jug has to be swilled out with water to reduce the milk concentration to acceptable allergy levels and does it need to be hot or cold water or both for the swill? Surely better reserve a special jug for the purpose.

I think this subject should be discussed because some of these allergies are swift and deadly, and not everyone knows about, or believes in, the dangers.