The Prince of Wales will meet with the parents of a teenager who died after having a severe allergic reaction to a Pret baguette.
Prince Charles is hosting a two-day global symposium on allergies in Ayrshire which has been organised by the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation.
The foundation was set up by Tanya and Nadim Ednan-Laperouse whose 15-year-old daughter Natasha died following a severe allergic reaction to sesame in a sandwich during a flight to France in 2016.
Charles has said he was “moved beyond words” by her death and the way her parents have “selflessly dedicated themselves to preventing other families suffering in the same way”.
Natasha died on 17 July, 2016 after eating a Pret a Manger artichoke, olive and tapenade baguette before boarding a flight at Heathrow to France with her father and best friend.
A coroner concluded that she would not have eaten the baguette if the sesame seeds – to which she was severely allergic – had been included on the label.
As a result of the incident, Natasha’s Law came into effect in October last year, which required all food outlets to provide full ingredient lists with clear allergen labelling on Pre Packed for Direct Sale foods (PPDS).
The symposium will see Charles partake in a roundtable discussion with scientists and Natasha’s parents. World-leading allergy experts from the UK, US, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong and Denmark are attending the event.
Mr Ednan-Laperouse, co-founder of Natasha’s Foundation, said: “We are deeply grateful to HRH The Prince of Wales for inspiring and hosting this momentous event, which will involve many of the world’s leading allergy experts.
“By bringing the scientists together in one room, we hope to identify the most important and effective ways of tackling the allergy epidemic, to prevent other families from enduring the loss and heartbreak that we have had to endure following Natasha’s death.”
Additional reporting by PA
