Parents of girl who died after eating Pret sandwich launch food allergy study

theguardian.com:

The parents of a teenager killed by an allergic reaction to a Pret a Manger sandwich say a clinical trial launched in her name “would have meant everything to her”.

The trial will investigate whether peanut and milk products can be used under medical supervision as a treatment to improve tolerance. Announcing it, Tanya and Nadim Ednan-Laperouse, said their aim was to “make food allergies history”.

Their daughter, Natasha, was 15 when she died in 2016 after a severe allergic reaction to a Pret baguette that contained sesame. Under the law at the time, the sandwich did not require an allergy label as it had been made on site.

The three-year oral immunotherapy trial will be led by the University of Southampton and University hospital Southampton NHS foundation trust. It was funded by the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation.

Tanya Ednan-Laperouse told BBC Breakfast on Wednesday: “If Natasha was alive today and she knew what was happening, that there was a clinical trial in her name, it would have meant everything to her.

“And I think knowing that there was research happening, looking into solutions and looking into treatments so that she could live a less stressed life around the food that she was eating would have been enormous for her.”

Nadim Ednan-Laperouse said: “She’s in heaven now. She’s looking down and she’s saying: ‘Yes mummy and daddy. Fantastic. Let’s do this.’”

Natasha’s parents have campaigned to make life safer for those with allergies since their daughter’s death. A food safety law, known as “Natasha’s Law” was introduced in October 2021 to compel all food made on premises to have full ingredient and allergen labelling.

The NHS already uses a drug called Palforzia, a powder manufactured from peanuts, to build