A 24-year-old British tourist died from a peanut allergy after eating churros in South America, an inquest has heard.
Cornwall Coroner’s Court heard Harry Kitto, from Falmouth, Cornwall, was told by café staff in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the pastry did not contain peanuts when he asked them both in English and Spanish.
The inquest heard Kitto suffered an anaphylactic reaction on 30 October 2025 after biting into the food which contained peanuts.
The court heard Harry had been travelling around South America with his girlfriend Naomi Pye and had eaten churros in Mexico and Peru without any issues. The inquest concluded his death was accidental.
Pye told the court Kitto felt the churro contained nuts and took a tube back to their accommodation, but his lips became swollen and he began to struggle to breathe.
She called for emergency help and ran to the accommodation to get an epi-pen (adrenaline epinephrine auto-injector syringe) and injected it into his thigh as an ambulance arrived on the scene and rushed him to hospital.
Pye said the pair were given a “firm no” that the churros contained nuts.
The inquest heard his heart stopped for about 11 minutes before it was restarted and he was taken into intensive care.
Kitto died one-week later from hypoxic brain injury and anaphylactic shock.
‘Immensely strong’
Assistant coroner Emma Hillson was told Kitto’s father and brother later went to the café and ordered the same food, and asked staff if the churros contained peanuts.
One waiter said they did not know and another said no.
They took the churro for testing at a local laboratory which showed it contained 20mg of peanut protein per kilo, the inquest heard.
Kitto’s mother Kerry Burt said her son “suffered a catastrophic allergic reaction to food cross contaminated with peanuts”.
She described her son as being “immensely strong, courageous and brave”.
Burt added: “For over a week he showed extraordinary strength and determination – the same strength that made everyone who knew him so proud.”