Lunch chain Pret a Manger is investigating a 2017 death possibly caused by an allergic reaction to a mislabeled product.
A customer died in December after eating a vegetable flatbread that was sold as dairy-free but contained traces of dairy protein in coconut yogurt, the BBC reported.
The investigation into the December death follows an inquest into the 2016 death of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, a 15-year-old who died after eating a sandwich whose label did not mention sesame allergens included in the item.
The West London Coroner’s Court found in September that Pret’s labeling of the sandwich was “inadequate,” but not illegal.
Ednan-Laperouse’s death has led Pret to change how it labels its food. But the 2017 incident was more than a year after her death.
Coyo, the company that makes the yogurt, has denied claims by Pret blaming the brand, although the company recalled its dairy-free yogurt products for containing dairy in February. In a tweet, Coyo said the February recall was not linked to the product supplied to Pret in December 2017.
— coyo.uk (@coyo_uk) October 7, 2018
The second victim of mislabeled products at Pret remains anonymous. But Ednan-Laperouse’s death has inspired outrage and pushes for change in how seriously the popular chain takes allergy warnings.
“All of us at Pret want meaningful change to come from this tragedy. We will ensure that it does,” Pret CEO Clive Schlee said in a statement to the New York Times in September.
