A toddler with a potentially fatal dairy allergy was left fighting for his LIFE after eating a ‘vegan’ pizza which contained cheese at a popular chain restaurant.
Zayaan Hussain, two, went into anaphylactic shock after eating a child’s margherita pizza at Pizza Hut on Sunday (8 April).
Dad Sajid Hussain, 33, said he told the staff at the restaurant about his son’s allergy and asked them four times about possible cross-contamination.
He was repeatedly reassured by staff that the ‘vegan’ pizza they had ordered was completely safe.
However, just minutes after eating his meal, little Zayaan began vomiting and struggling to breathe.
The youngster had being given the wrong pizza in ‘human error’ and received a normal Margherita pizza at the restaurant in Blackpool, Lancs., instead of the vegan dairy-free dish his parents had repeatedly stressed he needed.
Sajid said: “Even when we received the pizza, I wouldn’t let him eat it before re-confirming that it was definitely dairy-free. They said it was, so he ate the pizza.
“Ten minutes went by and Zayaan just started shutting down. He wasn’t responding to me or my wife. Something wasn’t right.”
Suspecting a severe allergic reaction, Sajid and wife Samia Hussain, also 33, gave Zayaan his inhaler and a dose of antihistamine tablet, Piriton and called for an ambulance.
Sajid said: “While I was on the phone Zayaan was violently sick everywhere and when the paramedics arrived his oxygen levels were really low.
“It actually got worse as we got to the hospital. There were talks of him having to be resuscitated.”
Zayaan was taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital with his parents and seven-year-old sister, Amara, where he spent two days.
Pizza Hut has now admitted the toddler was given the wrong dish due to ‘human error’.
Sajid, a businessman from Shipley, Bradford, West Yorks., said: “It was absolutely horrific. We could have lost our son that day.
”There are no words to truly describe what we were thinking. It was a very, very traumatic experience and not one I would ever want to go through again.”
He added that he later spoke with Pizza Hut bosses about the incident and that he has informed Environmental Health.
He said: “The last thing I want is for someone else to be in that sort of situation. We managed to save our son, but other people might not be so lucky.
“Zayaan is still not quite himself but he’s much better now thankfully.
“If we hadn’t seen that something wasn’t quite right and didn’t call an ambulance when we did, who knows where we would be now.”
A Pizza Hut spokesman said: “We are in contact with the family involved and are very sorry for what happened.
“We realise it was an unacceptable situation and have already completed an internal investigation with the Hut, which found that the wrong pizza was given to the family as a result of human error.
“We will share the full investigation findings with the Hussain family and are taking appropriate action at this restaurant to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
