A 12-year-old girl is dead after drinking a milkshake sold at a London café that failed to follow food safety legislations.

The incident could have been “prevented so simply,” and “only adds to the [heartbreak],” says the parents of the schoolgirl who died after having a severe allergic reaction to the shake that was made in a dirty blender, which had deadly traces of nuts.

A devastating incident in South-East London has left a family heartbroken after 12-year-old Mia St Hilaire suffered a fatal allergic reaction from a milkshake at the Pop Inn Café on Southwark Park Road, according to BBC.Mia had a known tree nut allergy and, in the summer of 2023, after visiting the store, the young schoolgirl had a severe reaction to the shake that was believed to contain traces of hazelnuts and almonds from a previous milkshake made in the same machine.

She was rushed to hospital where she died on August 30, 2023.

Unwashed blender

Following Mia’s heartbreaking death, Southwark Council’s food safety team launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident. Their findings pointed to a devastating mistake: traces of hazelnuts and almonds were present in the milkshake Mia had consumed.

The investigation uncovered CCTV footage showing that the café’s operator, Baris Yucel, 47, failed to clean the blender before preparing Mia’s drink. Residue from a previous milkshake, containing tree nuts, remained in the machine, ultimately causing a severe allergic reaction that led to her tragic death.

Southwark Council argued that this lack of basic food safety measures directly contributed to Mia’s passing – a tragedy that could have been avoided.