Parents demand meeting with UK delivery app bosses after son’s fatal allergic reaction
The parents of a 23-year-old man who died after eating a takeaway chicken tikka masala pizza have called for a meeting with the bosses of Britain’s three major food delivery apps to discuss how things can be improved for people with a food allergy.
James Atkinson, who had a known peanut allergy, died in July 2020 after eating less than a slice of the pizza he ordered via the Deliveroo app from a restaurant in Newcastle. He didn’t know that the ingredients included a powder that was 99% peanuts.
A coroner ruled on Monday that Atkinson had died of a severe allergic reaction to the peanuts and was unaware the food contained them.
Karen Dilks provided a narrative conclusion outlining how Atkinson ordered the food via the app, that he did not contact the restaurant directly to inform them of his allergies and that he did not have an EpiPen available once he felt unwell started to feel.
To prevent future deaths, she said she would write to the Department of Health to urge GPs to regularly assess patients with allergies and educate them on the importance of carrying EpiPens.
She will also write to the authorities for support Owen’s lawcalling on restaurants to state in writing which allergens their dishes contain.
But Dilks said she would not make any direct recommendations to the three major food ordering apps, which had no legal obligation to provide allergen information.
Afterwards, James’ parents, Stuart and Jill, said they believed the inquest had “shined a light on much bigger issues that need urgent attention”.
They said Britain has one of the largest online food delivery markets in the world and one in four people suffer from allergies.
“Online food platforms play an important role in choosing who they work with and how food is delivered safely to customers by their supplier partners.
“We now take this opportunity to publicly call on the bosses of the big three apps, Will Shu of Deliveroo, Matthew Price of UberEats and Claire Pointon of Just Eat, to meet with us to jointly assess which further steps can be taken. taken to better protect consumers.
“This is not about competition or sales. This is about human lives.”
The six-day inquest at Newcastle City Council heard that Atkinson, originally from Leeds, had studied computer science at Newcastle University and remained in the city after landing his ‘dream job’ as a computer programmer.
Atkinson realized something was wrong within seconds of eating the first slice of pizza and asked his friends to look for his EpiPen while he called an ambulance. No EpiPen was found by his panicked friends, the inquest heard.
One pathologist said that while it may not have made a difference, an EpiPen did increase the chances of survival.
Gulfam Ulhaq, 58, who ran the now closed Dadyal restaurant in Howard Street, Newcastle, said it was up to customers to inform staff if they had an allergy.