Deadly food allergies are on the rise among children. The cause isn’t what you might think | Devi Sridhar

From processed food to antibiotics, there are many reasons for the increase in allergies – and an urgent need for better safety measures

In February 2023, 13-year-old Hannah Jacobs died from a severe allergic reaction after drinking a hot chocolate from Costa Coffee. Hannah suffered from allergies to dairy, fish and eggs, and her mother had asked for soy milk, but the hot chocolate contained cows’ milk. In July 2016, 15-year-old Natasha Ednan-Laperouse died on a flight after eating a Pret a Manger baguette she had bought at Heathrow. She had a severe allergic reaction to sesame, which had been baked into the bread but wasn’t listed on the ingredients label.

These types of fatal events linked to food allergies seem to be occurring more frequently. They appear in headlines and have driven a movement to make planes, schools and other restricted environments “nut-free”. But are food allergies really on the rise, or is our coverage of them merely increasing?

Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh

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