Daughter of woman who died from severe allergic reaction after eating Pret A Manger wrap calls for better testing

The daughter of a woman who died from a severe allergic reaction after eating a Pret A Manger wrap has called for better testing across “the whole supply chain” to prevent further deaths.

Celia Marsh, who had a severe dairy allergy, collapsed in the street and was unable to breathe after she ate a super-veg rainbow flatbread from one of the chain’s stores in Bath, Somerset, on 27 December 2017.

The 42-year-old dental nurse from Melksham in Wiltshire died just two hours after eating the wrap.

Last week an inquest into the mother-of-five’s death found the wrap contained a dairy-free coconut yoghurt alternative that was supposed to be an alternative but actually included milk protein.

Planet Coconut, the UK distributor for Australian-based coconut yoghurt company CoYo, had put milk in their product which contained a starch called HG1.

The UK firm was in possession of documents which showed there was a risk of cross-contamination in the milk they were using but they did not share this information with Pret A Manger.

The cafe franchise, therefore, purchased the product without knowing of the risk of cross-contamination.

Mrs Marsh’s daughter Ashleigh Grice has called for better testing to prevent deaths like her mother’s in future.

She told Sky News: “I think there’s an awful lot that needs to be changed. Definitely one of them is testing. There needs to be vigorous testing throughout the whole supply chain.

“I think the healthcare definitely needs to be upped, so there needs to be more support and guidance and education for people with allergies and the family as well.

“The labelling I also think needs to be upped because it’s it can be very confusing if you have ‘dairy-free’, ‘free-from’… it’s just a bit of a gamble. People with these allergies aren’t 100% sure on what exactly they are purchasing.”

Mrs Marsh’s daughter Shanaye Grice told Sky News her mother would always “triple check” what she ate and “wouldn’t even hesitate” if there was a chance a product contained dairy.

The allergy sufferer had been on a post-Christmas shopping trip with her husband Andy and three of her daughters when she went into Pret to buy something to eat.

In a statement read to Avon Coroner’s Court during the inquest, Mr Marsh said his wife had begun to feel “a bit funny” after eating the wrap and they decided to leave a Gap clothing store.

She had said she was “struggling to breathe” so they moved to a small side street, he added.

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The court heard Mrs Marsh initially thought she was “being silly” because the sandwich had been labelled “vegan”.

Her death came in the wake of that of 15-year-old Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, who died in 2016 after eating a Pret baguette containing sesame seeds, bought at Heathrow Airport.

Ms Ednan-Laperouse had a sesame allergy.