Two men have appeared in court charged with the manslaughter of a 15-year-old girl who had an allergic reaction to nuts in a takeaway meal.

Mohammed Abdul Kuddus, 39, of Blackburn, and Harun Rashid, 38, of Rossendale, appeared at Blackburn magistrates court on Thursday in connection with the death of Megan Lee, from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire.

They are both charged with manslaughter, failing to discharge general health and safety duty to a person other than an employee, and contravening or failing to comply with EU provisions concerning food safety and hygiene.

Kuddus was also charged under the name of the company, RS Takeaways, with failing to discharge general health and safety duty to a person other than an employee, and contravening or failing to comply with EU provisions concerning food safety and hygiene.

He spoke through an interpreter to confirm his name, age and address. Both men confirmed their nationality as Bangladeshi.

Magistrates sent the case to Burnley crown court, where the men will appear on 7 February. They were granted conditional bail.

Megan’s parents were in court with other family members for the brief hearing.

The teenager died in hospital on New Year’s Day last year after being admitted on 30 December. She had eaten food from the Royal Spice Indian takeaway in Oswaldtwistle.

A postmortem showed she died from acute asthma due to a nut allergy.

Lancashire police said the takeaway was now trading under new ownership.