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Pret a Manger: Gove to be asked to tighten up food labelling rules after teenager's death Pret a Manger criticised and Gove urged to act after teenager's death
(35 minutes later)
A coroner has said he is going to write to Michael Gove to suggest he considers changing food labelling regulations to prevent a repeat of the death of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse.Natasha, 15, from Fulham, south-west London, collapsed on a British Airways flight from London to Nice on 17 July 2016 after eating an artichoke, olive and tapenade baguette she bought from Pret a Manger in Heathrow airport’s terminal 5.The baguette did not have any allergen advice on its wrapper. Reduced labelling requirements for food produced on site meant it was sufficient for general allergen warnings, instructing customers to consult staff for advice, to be posted around the shop.Recording that Natasha died as a result of a “catastrophic anaphlyactic reaction from which she could not be saved”, Dr Sean Cummings, the acting senior coroner for west London said on Friday he would write a recommendation letter to Gove, the secretary for environment, food and rural affairs, that food information regulations should be changed. A coroner has said he will write to Michael Gove to suggest he considers changing food labelling regulations to prevent another incident like the death of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse.
Natasha, 15, from Fulham, south-west London, collapsed on a British Airways flight from London to Nice on 17 July 2016 after eating an artichoke, olive and tapenade baguette she had bought from Pret a Manger in Heathrow airport’s Terminal 5.
The baguette did not have any allergen advice on its wrapper. Reduced labelling requirements for food produced on site meant it was sufficient for general allergen warnings, instructing customers to consult staff for advice, to be posted around the shop.
Recording that Natasha died as a result of a “catastrophic anaphylactic reaction from which she could not be saved”, Dr Sean Cummings, the acting senior coroner for west London, said on Friday that he would write to Gove, the secretary for environment, food and rural affairs, recommending that food information regulations be changed.
He also criticised Pret for not taking allergen monitoring seriously.He also criticised Pret for not taking allergen monitoring seriously.
Dr Thomas Pearson-Jones attended to Natasha after BA staff put out a request for medical help but the cabin crew did not tell him a defibrillator was on board. Cummings described this as an “omission” but said he did not think it made a material difference to the outcome.Cummings also made recommendations with respect to the length of EpiPens.Dr Alex Croom, a consultant allergist, told the court on Thursday that the two EpiPens that Natasha carried, and which were administered on the plane by her father, Nadim Ednan-Laperouse, may have been ineffective because the 16mm needles were too short and may not have reached her muscle.Cummings said the guidance of the Resuscitation Council, which is that EpiPens should be 25mm, should be adopted as standard. Dr Thomas Pearson-Jones attended to Natasha during the flight after BA staff made a request for medical help, but the cabin crew did not tell him a defibrillator was onboard. Cummings described this as an “omission” but said he did not think it had made a material difference to the outcome.
Cummings also made recommendations with respect to the length of EpiPens. Dr Alex Croom, a consultant allergist, told the court on Thursday that the two EpiPens that Natasha carried, and which were administered on the plane by her father, Nadim Ednan-Laperouse, may have been ineffective because the 16mm needles were too short and may not have reached her muscle.
Cummings said the guidance of the Resuscitation Council, which is that EpiPens should be 25mm, should be adopted as standard.
Natasha suffered from a number of food allergies, including to dairy, eggs, nuts and seeds. She also had asthma.Natasha suffered from a number of food allergies, including to dairy, eggs, nuts and seeds. She also had asthma.
Cummings said Natasha had a number of trips planned for the summer and was “excited at what she was hoping to be her best summer ever”.Cummings said Natasha had a number of trips planned for the summer and was “excited at what she was hoping to be her best summer ever”.
Her father described how she implored him, “Daddy, help me, I can’t breathe,” before collapsing on the flight. Later, as she lay in hospital in Nice and he was told she would not survive, Nadim Ednan-Laperouse said he had raised the phone to her ear so that her mother and brother could say goodbye and cut off a lock of her hair to keep. During the inquest Natasha’s father described how she implored him: “Daddy, help me, I can’t breathe,” before collapsing during the flight. Later, as she lay in hospital in Nice and he was told she would not survive, he said he had raised the phone to her ear so that her mother and brother could say goodbye, and he cut off a lock of her hair to keep.
Cummings said his letter to Gove “would be in relation to considering whether large food business operators should benefit from regulation 5 food information regulations”.
The coroner said signs relating to allergens displayed by Pret on its refrigerated display cabinets were “difficult to see … I am of the view that they were inadequate in terms of visibility”.
The inquest, which lasted four days, heard this week that Pret a Manger had nine cases of similar allergic reactions in the year before Natasha died. Cummings said its system for monitoring such incidents was “inconsistent and incoherent”.
He said: “Overall I was left with the impression that Pret had not addressed the fact that monitoring food allergy in a business selling more than 200m items a year was something to be taken very seriously indeed.”
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