Celia Marsh, 42, a dental nurse and mother of five from Melksham, Wiltshire, who had a severe allergy to cow’s milk, collapsed and died in December 2017 after eating a Pret a Manger “super-veg rainbow flatbread” found to contain traces of milk protein. We explain how the “vegan” flatbread bought in Bath was “contaminated” with a coconut milk yoghurt developed in Australia and made in England – with a “secret” ingredient manufactured in Wales.
• In 2011, former police officers Bethany and Paul Eaton spotted a demand for tasty dairy-free products that were not soya based. They contacted an Australian company called CoYo that produced a dairy-free yoghurt using coconut milk.
• CoYo had been founded by Henry Gosling, who was born and raised in Fiji, the grandson of a shipwrecked mariner from England. Gosling grew up among the coconut plantations of Vanua Levu island and in 2009 was living a semi-retired life on the Queensland coast when he had the idea of producing a dairy-free yoghurt using coconut milk. The first batch of CoYo was produced in 2010.
• The Eatons set up a company based in Kent called Planet Coconut and bought the licence from Gosling to make and supply his product in the UK under the brand name CoYo.
• Bethany Eaton testified at Marsh’s inquest that after they had signed the licence agreement, Gosling told her about “his secret ingredient” – a stabiliser called HG1 designed with the food giant Tate & Lyle’s Australian subsidiary.
• Planet Coconut began making its CoYo yoghurt at its dairy-free plant in Kent using HG1 manufactured by Tate & Lyle UK’s factory in Mold, north Wales. It proved very successful and Planet Coconut’s customers included Waitrose, independent health food shops – and Pret a Manger. Planet Coconut said it was obliged to buy the HG1 from CoYo and was given “many assurances” by CoYo that the stabiliser was made in a dairy free production environment.
• The HGI arrived at the Planet Coconut plant from Tate & Lyle in bags that stated: “Manufactured in a factory that handles milk, eggs, cereals.” Planet Coconut had documents that flagged the risk. Planet Coconut did not highlight this situation to Pret. In a statement read out at the inquest, Gosling said that under the licensing agreement, Planet Coconut was obliged to ensure the HG1 it used was dairy free.
• Tate & Lyle in the UK said during the inquest that it was not asked for a dairy free ingredient and so it was manufactured on an ordinary production line, not an allergen-free one.
• Pret used the CoYo yoghurt in 2.5m items and said it had assurances that Planet Coconut products were made in an entirely dairy-free site. It says that if it had known the yoghurt contained milk protein, it would not have used it in the flatbread.
• During a post-Christmas shopping trip in 2017, Celia Marsh collapsed after eating a flatbread bought from a Pret in Bath.
• Maria Voisin, the senior coroner for Avon, ruled that Marsh died due to an anaphylactic reaction caused by eating a wrap contaminated with milk protein, to which she was allergic. She said the contamination arose because HG1 had become cross-contaminated with milk protein during its manufacture.
• The Eatons have founded a company called Nush Foods making yoghurts and spreads out of almonds. The CoYo website says: “We’re currently out of stock in the UK. We promise we’ll be back real soon.” Pret no longer makes any free-from claims, including dairy-free, on freshly made products.
