Food labels ‘deceptive’ for people with allergies
Coroner gives warning over risks at inquest into death of woman who ate a Pret a Manger ‘vegan’ wrap
PEOPLE with severe food allergies should be wary of food labels, a coroner has warned, after a woman died after eating a Pret a Manger “vegan” wrap.
Maria Voisin, the senior coroner for Avon, told an inquest that labels such as “may contain”, “free from” and “vegan” could be deceptive following an inquest into the death of Celia Marsh, who suffered a fatal anaphylactic shock after eating the wrap in 2017.
Ms Marsh, 42, a dental nurse and mother of five from Melksham, Wilts, “religiously avoided” dairy products after a near-fatal allergic reaction a few months earlier, after which she needed 15 shots of adrenaline, the court heard.
She was on a post-christmas shopping trip with her husband and three of her daughters when she ate a “superveg rainbow flat-bread” from a Pret store in Bath, Somerset, that had been described as vegan. She was declared dead fewer than two hours later.
The wrap’s coconut yogurt dressing had been cross-contaminated with milk protein during manufacture, Ms Voisin told the hearing. She added that Ms Marsh, who had a severe milk allergy, was “not aware” the chain’s “vegan” wrap “contained milk protein”. Coyo, an
Australian yogurt manufacturer that supplied the chain, had documentation warning it of the risk of cross-contamination of the starch, but this information was not passed on to Pret a Manger, the court heard.
To combat inaccurate food labels, Ms Voisin recommended the testing of products marked as “dairy free” throughout the supply chain.
The coroner will also ask the Food Standards Agency to inform a “small subset” of adult allergy sufferers of the dangers of inadvertent exposure to allergens, as there is “no safe level”.
She said that she would write to the Royal College of Pathologists asking for guidelines to be revisited, including retaining blood samples taken in hospital for testing.
Senior coroners should be informed if a death in their area is potentially due to anaphylaxis as early as possible, while post-mortem examinations in such cases should be prioritised, she added.
She will also question whether anaphylaxis should be a notifiable disease, meaning healthcare officials are legally required to report cases to government authorities. This would help them to monitor the disease and could signal failures in adequate food labelling.
Speaking outside Avon Coroner’s Court after the conclusion of the inquest into Marsh’s death, Marsh’s daughter Ashleigh Grice criticised the food industry for its reliance on “vague” labelling regarding allergens, instead of implementing a strict testing regime.
Ms Grice also criticised the manufac
‘Mum’s death, like so many other allergy deaths, was avoidable’
turer of the yogurt that held traces of milk for failing to make Pret aware of the risk to allergies sufferers, adding: “Mum’s death, like so many other allergy deaths, was entirely avoidable.”
The investigation into Marsh’s death found the entire wrap had been eaten, and the pot of yogurt used to make it was thrown away before Bath and north east Somerset council began its investigation. Testing on other pots found small quantities of dairy protein, with traces found in another rainbow wrap.
Pret was charged with food safety failures after Marsh’s death, but the prosecution was dropped due to lack of evidence. The court heard that Pret sandwiches were displayed next to a warning stating it could not guarantee its products were free from allergens.
Guy Meakin, Pret’s interim managing director, told the inquest all products are now labelled with ingredients and Pret had introduced allergen risk assessments. He added: “If we had known it had contained milk products we would never have used it.”