Parents of Mia St Hilaire call for allergy management ratings after inquest
Mia St Hilaire, 12, died in August 2023 after an unwashed blender left hazelnut traces in her milkshake, and her parents now want allergy management ratings for food businesses.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
The parents of Mia St Hilaire, a 12-year-old girl who died after an allergic reaction to a milkshake, are calling for allergy management ratings for food businesses.
Mia died in August 2023 after she ordered a milkshake from a cafe. The owner used an unwashed blender that still had traces of hazelnut. Mia had a tree nut allergy and went into anaphylactic shock. She could not be saved.
The inquest into her death concluded last week. The cafe, which now has new owners, was fined £18,000. Its former owner was given 100 hours of community service after admitting six charges related to the Food Safety Act.
Mia's parents, Adrian and Chanel, said more needs to be done to protect people with allergies. They described their daughter as full of fun, curious and sensible, and said she had been aware of her allergy from a young age. She would ask what was in food and checked ingredients.
They want a separate, clearly displayed rating for allergy management, similar to the food hygiene rating. They say this would help people with allergies make more informed choices about where they eat.
The family's lawyer said the current system is broken, fragmented and confusing. The lawyer called on the Food Standards Agency to review the framework and bring allergy management and inspectors into one concise document. The lawyer said action had to be taken and that a child's life was not an acceptable price for regulatory failure.
The Food Standards Agency said it had recently produced new guidance for businesses to make sure they understand their responsibilities to inform consumers about allergens, including the risk of cross-contact. It said it was keeping this policy under review.
The law was tightened in 2021 after the death of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse. Natasha's Law now requires allergen labels on all pre-packed food.
Mia's parents want to meet the agency to press for change in her memory. They want an allergy rating for every establishment to be her legacy.
On screen
Stills are sampled automatically at 60-second intervals. Where shown, the still is the nearest available frame from the relevant broadcast segment and is included to show what was on screen during that part of the broadcast. A still may not correspond to the exact second of a quoted phrase.
Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |
|---|---|
| Only on one channel | |
| A cafe was fined £18,000 and its former owner received 100 hours of community service after admitting six charges under the Food Safety Act. | |
| Mia St Hilaire died after her milkshake was contaminated with hazelnut traces from an unwashed blender. | |
| Mia St Hilaire's parents are calling for food businesses to be given an allergy management rating similar to food hygiene ratings. | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
The 5 News with Dan Walker programme gave the story a strong family-led, campaign focus. It led with the parents' call for allergy management ratings and gave space to their memories of Mia, the inquest outcome and the lawyer's criticism of the current system. It also carried the Food Standards Agency response and placed the case in the context of Natasha's Law, while including no dissenting voices.
- “more needs to be done to protect people with allergies”
- “there should be a separate clearly displayed rating dedicated to the allergy management like the food hygiene rating”
- “the current system is broken it's fragmented it's confusing”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.