LONDON - A "reckless" owner of a London curry house was sentenced to six years in jail on Monday (May 23) for causing the death of a customer who had a peanut allergy, said reports.

It was the first time in Britain that someone has been convicted of manslaughter over the sale of food, reported the New York Times in a report from London.

The customer, Paul Wilson, 38, was found slumped in his toilet at home after he ate a takeaway chicken tikka masala dish from the Indian Garden restaurant in North Yorkshire in January 2014, said the report.

Wilson, who had been avoiding food with peanuts since he was a child, had suffered anaphylactic shock.

He had specificied "no nuts" and the instruction was even written on the lid of his curry container.

A prosecutor told a Teesside Crown Court jury that restaurant owner Mohammed Zaman, 52, had a "reckless and cavalier attitude to risk".

Prosecutors said Zaman was in debt and had cut corners by replacing almond powder in his recipes with a cheaper mix of ground nuts.

He was not at the restaurant when the curry was prepared.