U.K. eatery owner guilty in nut allergy death
Manslaughter convictions after teen reacted to food delivered from restaurant
LONDON— A delivery person and the owner of a takeaway restaurant in Britain have been found guilty of manslaughter for delivering food to a teenage girl who died from the effects of a peanut allergy.
The teenager, Megan Lee, who was 15 at a time, suffered a reaction after ordering from her local takeout in Lancashire, in northern England, in late 2016, according to local news reports.
She suffered irreversible brain damage after the allergy attack and died on Jan. 1, 2017.
On Friday, a jury at Manches- ter Crown Court found two men, Mohammed Abdul Kuddus, 40, and Harun Rashid, 38, guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence in Lee’s death. Court reports said Kuddus had been the owner of the restaurant and Rashid the delivery person.
According to the prosecution, the restaurant, the Royal Spice Takeaway in Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, had no systems or conditions in place to protect customers with allergies.
“Their manifest failures and complete disregard for the safety of customers was astonishing,” Karen Tonge of the Crown Prosecution Service told the British network ITV after the trial.
Lee knew about her allergy, and her friend had included a warning with the food order, the court was told.
Still, an investigation found “widespread presence” of peanut protein in the meal, which included an onion bhaji, a seekh kebab and a Peshwari naan.
Speaking outside the court Friday, Lee’s father, Adam, told reporters, “We urge all food businesses to improve their standards in food safety and take allergies seriously.”
The conviction comes amid increased scrutiny about food allergies and product labelling after Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, 15, who had a severe allergy to sesame seeds, collapsed and died in July 2016 after eating a Pret a Manger sandwich while on her way to a vacation in France with her father.
The artichoke, olives and tapenade baguette that she ate had sesame seeds baked into its dough but did not say so on the label.
Ednan-Laperouse’s parents are campaigning for more information to be included on a wider variety of food labels. Packaged foods in supermarkets in Britain and the European Union carry information about allergens, but, for freshly prepared foods, takeout establishments and restaurants are required only to have the list of allergens available on request.
The Royal Spice Takeaway closed for a while but reopened under new management.
The two men in the case, who had pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter charge, were released on bail pending sentencing Nov. 7. The judge warned the men to expect jail time.