What happened when Costa got allergens wrong……

Are you aware of the recent tragic death of 13 year old Hannah Johnson?

She ordered an oat milk hot chocolate from Costa and after drinking it had an anaphylactic shock and died as she was allergic to milk.

Following the inquest the coroner stated that there had been some failures and a break down in communication between the coffee shop staff and the customer, she concluded there was: 

Following the inquest outcome a fact sheet on 'Preparing Drinks for the Free From Customer' was put together by 'Allergy Aware'. Share this very useful resource if you prepare hot drinks for your customers.

What can you do to keep free from customers safe?

1. Ask every customer about allergies

Lack of information about a customer’s allergy can result in staff misunderstanding their requirements and mistakes being made.

What can you do?

ASK EVERY CUSTOMER if they have an allergy or intolerance. If they do then you can refer to your allergen information either in your matrix and on the manufacturers information.

It is a good idea to have an allergy ambassador or champion on shift who can continue the conversation with the customer, this is especially important if you are busy, to make sure that the allergy customer’s needs are fully understood and fulfilled.

2. Set up procedures for preparing hot drinks for free from customers

You should have documented controls in your HACCP documentation to ensure if you do make drinks for free from customers you can do it safely.

What can you do?

• Use colour coded equipment such as jugs and spoons for different plant milks - soya, oat etc.

• Do 2 stage cleaning and use single use cloths.

• Have separate milk frothers/steamers if you can

• Be careful with sprinkles, syrups and mixers.

• See the leaflet for tips on heating plant milks and how to reduce the risk for people with nut allergies.

Cross contamination is often difficult to avoid in coffee shops due to the fast paced environments and small spaces that many are located in. Display a polite allergen information notice telling customers of any cross contamination risks that exist (previously these have been referred to as disclaimers).

However, if you feel you can’t safely serve a free from customer then tell them, but remember legally you have to have the allergen information available on the 14 identified allergens for all the food items you serve.

3. Train your staff in your allergen procedures

ALL staff should attend an allergen awareness course but equally important is that they fully understand the allergen procedures you have in place in your food business. Allergen training should never be a tick box exercise it’s too important! This information should be included in staff inductions, in ongoing and refresher training.

What can you do?

Display signage listing your allergen controls as a reminder for staff on what they need to do, and keep their allergen training up to date.

4. Document any near misses with allergens and learn from any mistakes

It is really important to write down when ‘near misses’ happen with allergens, what went wrong (the root cause) and what you can do to prevent it happening again (corrective action).

After an allergen ‘near miss’ always review what happened. If you change or put additional procedures in place don’t forget to retrain your staff.