A MA family is suing Panera after their daughter, who has a peanut allergy, was served a grilled cheese sandwich with a dollop of peanut butter inside. Russo does not believe the manager’s explanation.
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The suit filed in Middlesex Superior Court against Panera and a group of New England Panera franchises alleges negligence.
Most people wouldn’t think peanut butter is a typical ingredient for grilled cheese.
Despite their caution, their now 6-year-old child ended up in a hospital in January after an allergic reaction to peanut butter.
Russo told The Boston Globe that his wife, Elissa, mentioned the peanut allergy twice on the order.
After taking a bite, the girl immediately panicked and asked her parents, “Am I going to die?”
The girl, who is not named in the lawsuit, vomited after eating the sandwich and was taken to the hospital by her parents, where she broke out in hives, was given a shot of epinephrine, and stayed the night. Their daughter was rushed to the hospital and ended up spending the night.
The manager reportedly apologized and blamed the mistake on a language issue, suggesting that a worker with “limited English” saw the word “peanut” and assumed the customer wanted it added into the sandwich.
“Did they just see “peanut” and not the “allergy” part?”
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While Panera does have a disclaimer on its website that the company “cannot guarantee” any food items are free of allergens because employees use shared equipment, Russo’s lawyer, Mary Vargas of Maryland and Laurel Francoeur of Woburn, told the Globe this isn’t a “cross contamination case”.
