Chef gives evidence at peanut death inquest

chef gives evidence at peanut death inquest

James Atkinson died in July 2020

A chef at a restaurant that prepared the food that led to the death of a man has told an inquest he would refuse an order from people with an allergy.

James Atkinson, 23, died from a peanut allergy after eating pizza from Dadyal in Newcastle, on 10 July 2020.

There is no evidence to suggest Mr Atkinson alerted staff to his allergy.

Chef Muhammad Iqbal, 69, told the inquest he could not dispense an order if he was alerted to a warning about a customer’s peanut allergy.

Mr Atkinson, originally from Leeds, had ordered takeaway pizza from Dadyal via the Deliveroo app, and became unwell shortly afterwards.

The inquest at Newcastle Civic Centre heard that the computer programmer died at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary under an hour after ingesting peanuts.

chef gives evidence at peanut death inquest

The computer programmer became immediately unwell after eating the pizza

Home Office pathologist Dr Jennifer Bolton said Mr Atkinson had been diagnosed with a peanut allergy ten years ago and had been “very good” at monitoring the allergy.

Examination of the uneaten takeaway food also detected the presence of peanuts, as did analysis of a “nut mix” at the Dadyal restaurant which supplied it, the inquest was told on Monday.

An inspection of the restaurant after Mr Atkinson’s death showed that peanut powder had been used in the preparation of the chicken tikka masala pizza.

On Wednesday, environmental health officer Claire George told the hearing that the allergen sections of the restaurant’s food safety management documents were later found to be blank.

Mr Iqbal told the inquest on Thursday that he had 30 years of experience and had taken an official food safety course about allergens.

Dadyal has since been closed.

Coroner Karen Dilks asked him what he would do if an order contained a warning that the customer had a peanut allergy.

Speaking through an interpreter, he said: “I would have refused.”

Mrs Dilks asked if that was because the powder that was available that day to make the masala curry included peanuts.

He replied: “Because if anybody has an allergy with peanuts, you cannot dispense the order.”

Mr Atkinson’s parents, Jill and Stuart, said their son “had a gift of making others happy”, and they added that his death had left an “insurmountable hole” in their hearts.

The inquest continues.

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