Girl, 12, with nut allergy died after cafe operator failed to wash blender

27 comments

1. Anyone who’s worked a minimum wage job can tell you the utter lack of responsibility in employers to give ample training. Online training is in no way sufficient at all, I’ve seen people skipping steps as often as they can through it. This is gonna continue to happen if we keep allowing employers to shrug off any responsibility by providing lackluster online training. A girl died because some higher up decided it’s too costly to educate people on the job
   Edit: yes I know in this case the mistake was made by the employer, but cases like this are representative of a system wide failure in customer service jobs

2. If you have a severe allergy don’t buy food that is prepared by someone on minimum wage. They won’t care

3. Why are people banging on about minimum wage in these comments, when it was the operator that did id?

4. – wash this blender, you have 34 seconds to do it.
   – But it takes 2 minutes to properly wash it!
   – No, Jimmy cleans it in less than 20 seconds!
   – Yeah but jimmy doesn’t clean it properly, there are still chunks and…
   – Now, now! We shouldn’t blame anybody! I’ll talk to Jimmy and you work on washing it under 34 seconds or we will have to re-evaluate this working relationship!
   – Ok, I got it now, I washed it in 15 seconds!
   – Great job! Wanna become supervisor?

5. Lawyer for Mr Yucel:

   “Pop Inn Cafe had a good food safety record and the Judge accepted that Mr Yucel had shown genuine remorse.

   “He took immediate steps to better educate himself in September and October 2023 and pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.

   “Regrettably, the cafe were not notified by the child’s guardian that the child was allergic to tree nuts and the Judge stated that apart from the lack of signage as to notifying the establishment of any food allergies/intolerances, that this would not have prevented the tragic consequences which followed.

   “Mr Yucel has had to live with the consequences (of) what happened and a day does not go by when he does not think about the child and her family.

   “Pop Inn Cafe was granted a Food Hygiene Rating of 5 in October 2023 and it remains at this level after a full inspection by Southwark Council in September 2024.”

   [Parents of girl who died from allergic reaction welcome fine for cafe operator](https://www.irvinetimes.com/news/national/24888355.parents-girl-died-allergic-reaction-welcome-fine-cafe-operator/)

6. If I were that allergic to peanuts I dont think I’d ever eat anything that’s wasn’t made by my own hands.

7. It must be so scary to have a kid with severe allergies.

8. Why do you eat out with such severe allergies. 

   I don’t trust anyone preparing anything edible unless it’s myself or I can see it for myself. 

   It’s my Responsibility – It’s my Life. 

   Very unfortunate either way – for everyone involved. 

9. I honestly don’t give a fuck what wage you’re on. If you’re responsible for what someone else is putting in their body, CARE about your job.

   If you don’t care, leave and find a easier job that isn’t going to hurt someone if you do a shit job.

   Or you get a situation like this where because they don’t care about their job but need one, now they are definitely going to jail and definitely won’t have a job. Oh and you killed a kid.

10. I was going to say ‘”maybe don’t trust random strangers with your life”. But then it struck me that I do that every time I get in my car.

11. This poor baby girl.
    I have a life threatening nut allergy. As an adult I decide what is and what isn’t safe all the time. As a kid this judgment process is so much more difficult. I didn’t appreciate the lengths my parents took to protect me, until I had my own allergic child to watch like a hawk. My heart goes out to these parents. What a nightmare. May the angels hold her in softness.

12. The requirements for food businesses are clear – you must display a sign asking customers to tell you if they have any allergies. The cafe did not do this.

13. The operator was totally wrong. But as someone who works in hospitality and has done allergen management, if they are using hazelnut milk or any other nut milk in their kitchen then ALL their smoothies/ shakes should be labelled as may contain nuts and not safe for someone with a severe nut allergy. I’m guessing from the lack of care from the operator that they didn’t even have an allergen process in place.

14. Why don’t all eating establishments have a sign up saying “Warning, all food may contain nuts.” Would this stop any legal problems if in the event something like this happens? Just wondering… and no, I don’t own a cafe 😉

15. Working in kitchens is often a new immigrant job.. not everyone has good English. It can be a stressful, fast-paced environment.

    People with fatal allergies just can’t risk it.

    Its sad, but it has to come down to individual responsibility… and parents training their children not to accept food that cannot be trusted.

16. Sure if everyone here got salmonella or another type of food poisoning you’d be kicking off and not saying “well that’s the risk I took” but when it’s an allergy everyone’s okay with people not following food safety standards.

17. If you’re that deathly allergic to nuts, wouldn’t you always have an epipen or equivalent on your person? Or has TV and film warped my perception? Try not to hurl abuse at me in the replies, genuinely up for a learning

18. So unfair – the family can’t prove that! They’re saying someone killed their kid but that exposure could come from anywhere – when you chose to go to a place that would be full of allergens even after being hosed down.

19. I can’t imagine how terrifying it must be to live with a severe allergy or be the parent of a child with a severe allergy.
    I just don’t think I’d ever be able to let my child eat out, I’d never trust anyone to have their best interests at heart like I would/ they would preparing things at home. It’s not worth the risk.

20. I have a nut allergy but it’s not as severe as this. On my honeymoon I ordered room service after thoroughly checking the dish had no nuts in it but I was sent a dish with blended cashews in the sauce. I couldn’t see the nuts so I assumed it’s what I ordered and I ate it. Soon after I experienced severe pain in my stomach and began vomiting and the hotel denied they’d put any nuts in the dish despite me telling them that I know what my own allergic reaction looks and feels like. They finally admitted that their chef had mixed up two sauces, one was meant for a customer dining in their outdoor restaurant. I received no apology or compensation – instead they delivered a basket of old chopped fruit to my room to say sorry which my husband immediately sent back out of anger. You really can’t trust people to be mindful of allergies.

21. She ordered the drink without alerting them to her allergy. Her parents should have absolutely drilled it into her from a young age that she was not to consume food and drink that wasn’t prepared at home.
    I used to work in primary schools and this was one of the first things those kids were educated in, parents were responsible for providing all necessary information and it was followed to the T by catering staff, most anaphylactic kids had packed lunches and EpiPens at the school office.
    It’s an unfortunate accident but one that could have been avoided if her parents had done their job properly and taught her how to manage her allergy. A laminated piece of paper isn’t going to do anything for a giddy 12 year old.

22. Whilst people here are talking about training for minimum wage workers, if the issue is minimum wage workers not doing enough(I’m not saying that is the issue)then won’t training be wasted on workers who won’t always put in full effort regardless of training?

23. Bunch of twats in here blaming a 12 year old instead of a person who is trained to serve food/drink.

24. That is a tragedy for all concerned. I recently had to prepare food for someone with severe allergies to all sorts of weird stuff (fenugreek! Wtf?) and it gave me a sleepless night. It is hard – it’s not as if you can just ban a certain ingredient – this poor girl was allergic to tree nuts, not peanuts.

25. If you have that much of a allergy then why chance it? I know heartbreaking for the parents but that poor employee will have the guilt for the rest of their lives.

26. I went to a restaurant that we discovered served vegan milkshakes. I can’t drink pure fresh milk but can eat cheese. I ordered a vegan milkshake but it clearly wasn’t because it went immediately right through me. I don’t trust many places with that anymore.

27. I’m done giving a shit about people with severe allergies playing Russian roulette with ordering food from places which clearly handle things that trigger their allergy. My wife hasn’t had a meal out in 20 years. 20 years!

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