Costa coffee and milk allergy

Went into a food outlet yesterday with my daughters and 2 out of 3 meals that turned up were wrong. 1 had an American burger full of mustard (a known allergen) and my vegetarian daughter received a chicken wrap. The server said that is what we ordered - but shut up when she showed him the order on her app!!

Sorry to rant on, but I wouldn't feel happy eating out in most places if myself or somebody I was with had a life threatening allergy.

It is so tragic this poor girl has died and I feel so sad for her family.

So very sad to hear this . I was volunteering at a cafe for a few months recently as a barrister. Having never served various different coffees it was overwhelming the first days . I was asked for an oat milk coffee and as I took the money I had a moments panic and checked which milk I had used thank goodness it was correct . After that I always repeated the order back to customer for fear of getting it wrong. Sometimes there are very young people working in these fast moving places . Sadly , very sadly mistakes are made . Even by me

I'd be wary of somewhere like Costa or Starbucks, because they always seem chaotic.

I think because every other person now has food allergies, (intolerance for some)" it's easy to forget how serious it can be.

Sorry sent too soon. I had read soya milk was used but the chocolate powder mix was probably made using cows milk.
The Costa staff member must feel dreadful as does the mother. A very tragic event.

I have a friend who has a severe allergy. She goes into great discussions with the restaurant staff about how dangerous her situation is and she would have to be blue lighted to hospital etc....but then doesnt always have her epipen with
her!

I have just been into a Starbucks and ordered a coffee. While waiting for it I was just thinking…….would I trust any of the baristas behind the counter with my life (which is essentially what happened when ordering the hot chocolate)?

Now they all were very friendly and seemed nice people, but my answer to myself was no.

Unless they were in a hospital setting for example, or flying a plane I was on. You get my gist I hope.

For me it's the responsibility loaded on to someone who will be paid wages not equal to that responsibility. Theres something about that which makes me uncomfortable.

excuse spelling mistake. such a shame quick correction not possible on this site, as on many others.

gulligranny

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.

We have a gc who has a VERY severe anyphylactic allergy to a common product. And I am afraid that I agree- if the allergy is life threatening, you don't just go to any café or restaurant and just ask for such a product- cross contamination, even when using garanteed without xyz- is just TOO risky. You would have to check the process, the chocolate and the milk- just TOO risky.

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.

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.

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

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.

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 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 think that is a very relevant point flappergirl.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

They seem to have everything but the kitchen sink.

What a tragedy, though, for all.