Mom of Girl, 12, Who Died After Drinking Milkshake Made in Unwashed Blender Speaks Out, Says She Grieves ‘Every Day’
Mom of Girl, 12, Who Died After Drinking Milkshake Made in Unwashed Blender Speaks Out, Says She Grieves ‘Every Day’
Adam EnglandWed, October 14, 2026 at 12:36 PM UTC
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Mia Shay St HilaireCredit: Press Association via APMia Shay St Hilaire had a severe allergic reaction and died after drinking the milkshake, made in an unwashed blender at a cafe in London, in August 2023 -
Mia Shay St Hilaire died in 2023 after drinking a milkshake made in an unwashed blender at a London cafe, and now her parents are urging U.K. officials to create allergy safety ratings for food businesses
A coroner found hazelnut residue in the unwashed blender cross-contaminated the milkshake in 2023; Mia had a tree nut allergy
Former cafe operator Baris Yucel pleaded guilty to six allergen offenses and received an £18,000 ($24,000) fine
The mother of a 12-year-old girl who died after drinking a contaminated milkshake is speaking out.
Mia Shay St Hilaire, who had a tree nut allergy, suffered a severe allergic reaction after drinking a milkshake made in an unwashed blender at the Pop Inn Cafe in London in August 2023, a hearing at Inner South London Coroner’s Court found on Thursday, Oct. 8.
Mia’s parents, Chanel Spence and Adrian St HilaireCredit: Good Morning Britain/Youtube
Speaking on U.K. talk show Good Morning Britain, Mia’s mom, Chanel Spence, told hosts Susanna Reid and Ed Balls that her daughter knew the milkshake contained nuts after just “two sips.”
CCTV captured the moment then-cafe operator Baris Yucel, who no longer owns or operates the cafe, made the drink in a blender that hadn’t been washed after its previous use. A coroner subsequently found the drink was “cross-contaminated with hazelnut residue.”
Pop Inn CafeCredit: Google Maps
Spence and Mia’s father, Adrian St Hilaire, previously called for a separate rating system to help consumers assess how food businesses manage allergy risks in the U.K., alongside the Food Standards Agency’s current food hygiene rating system.
Balls asked Mia’s parents whether the pre-teen would have known to check the hygiene ratings when dining out. They said it was something she was used to — and said she’d even visited the cafe previously.
“It was a place she had gone a week before,” Spence explained. “It wasn’t an unfamiliar place by any means.”
Spence said the family was surprised to find out in the hearing that allergy management didn’t come under the same system as the food hygiene ratings.
“When you see a five-star rating at a shop, you feel like, you know, you’re safe,” she said, explaining why they want a separate rating just for allergies.
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“Had that been in place, we’d be looking at a different outcome and a totally different story,” St Hilaire added. And, reflecting on life more than three years since her daughter’s death, Spence said the grief is still a major part of their lives. “It doesn’t really change a thing, you know, she’s our every day,” she said.
The family’s solicitor, Angela Bruno, joined Mia’s parents on GMB and said concerns over the cafe had been raised before her death. No allergy matrix was found in the cafe during an inspection in 2020, but it was still awarded a five-star rating, she claimed, before another inspection two years later was “missed.”
“Mia passes away in 2023, and again they go in. Still no matrix, no allergy signs, other issues are raised with regard to contamination,” Bruno said. She also alleged that another inspection planned for September 2026 was not carried out.
According to the FSA’s website, the cafe was most recently awarded a five-star hygiene rating in 2024.
Yucel pleaded guilty to six offenses in January 2025, including 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. He was fined £18,000 ($24,000) and given a 100-hour community order.
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In a previous statement to PEOPLE, Rebecca Sudworth, Director of Food Policy at the Food Standards Agency, said: “We recently produced new guidance for businesses to make sure they understand their responsibilities to inform consumers about allergens, including the risk of cross-contact, and we are keeping this policy under review. We also have free allergy training and practical tools that businesses can use.”
PEOPLE reached out to Southwark Council, the local authority responsible for food safety inspections at the cafe, for comment but did not immediately hear back.
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Source: “AOL Breaking”
