Family Devastated After Child Has Severe Allergic Reaction to a Milkshake Made in an Unwashed Blender

A 12-year-old girl died after drinking a milkshake from a restaurant that did not clean its blending machine between uses.

Mia St Hilaire stopped into the Pop Inn Cafe in Bermondsey, south-east London with her aunt in August of 2023. According to the BBC, she ordered a Twix milkshake. The proprietor of the establishment, Baris Yucel, who was working that day, was seen on CCTV footage mixing the sweet treat in a blender after making another customer a Kinder Bueno milkshake, which contains hazelnut.

Sadly, Hilaire had a tree-nut allergy and the residue from the hazelnut sent her into anaphylactic shock. Despite efforts to treat her after she was rushed to the nearest ICU, the child died.

Yucel pleaded guilty to six charges as soon as he could. Those charges included, “not making allergen advice available or visible to consumers, failing to manage allergen contamination during the food production process, and serving food that contained an allergenic ingredient that was not supposed to be present,” according to a release from the Southwark Council.

In January of 2025, the BBC reported that Yucel was fined £18,000 (about $24,000) and he was given 100 hours of community service.

“We hope that lessons will be learned from Mia’s death and that changes will be made to prevent other families enduring the devastation that we now have to live with,” the child’s family said following the council’s inquest.

In a statement to the Southwark News, Yucel’s lawyer said, “Prior to sentencing Mr Yucel, District Judge Dean commented that the 47-year-old defendant was of previous good character and that throughout the 22 years in the food business, there have been no previous incidents reported against him.”