In some bizarre news from the UK, an unsuspecting man died after eating a Chicken Tikka Masala pizza. There was no ingredient in the pizza that would normally cause harm. Unfortunately, UK’s James Atkinson was allergic to one ingredient that is not commonly found in pizza, peanuts. That’s right, the pizza that him and his flatmate had ordered from a nearby restaurant was found to contain peanuts to which James was deathly allergic.
James Atkinson, 23, and his flatmate ordered the ‘chicken tikka masala’ pizza with chips and some other Indian dishes via Deliveroo from a restaurant in Newcastle in July 2020. James was known to be ‘usually very good’ at monitoring his allergies and had looked up likely ingredients in the food online. Many household recipes for chicken tikka or chicken tikka masala do not contain peanuts.
But James, a recent Newcastle University graduate originally from Leeds, realised something was wrong when he started to feel unwell after eating less than a slice of the pizza. He called an ambulance while his flatmate searched in vain for an EpiPen (injection).
Paramedic Stephen Gillespie, who was urgently diverted to James’ home in an ambulance with two colleagues, said they found the 23-year-old ‘in the tripod position’ in his bathroom and was breathing extremely fast.
The bizarre took a tragic and heartbreaking turn however when James was found incredibly scared in the bathroom. According to the paramedic, James asked him: ‘Am I going to die?’
He was rushed to hospital but could not be saved, and was pronounced dead 41 minutes after arriving. Analysis of his stomach contents found substances which could be nuts, while peanuts were detected in the uneaten takeaway food and a ‘nut mix’ at the restaurant, Dadyal.Tragically, James’ odds of survival would have ‘increased’ though not ‘guaranteed’ if an EpiPen had been found in time.