The lawsuit filed in Middlesex Superior Court against Panera and a group of New England Panera franchises alleges negligence.
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Further, the suit alleges that less than a month after the Russo girl’s incident, another child had a similar peanut butter incident when ordering a sandwich from a Wayland, Massachusetts Panera Bread. The girl spent the night at the hospital.
The family in MA says their daughter got extremely ill after eating a grilled cheese sandwich with peanut butter on it. He said the order taker added it to the sandwich by mistake. The parents told the Boston Globe that their daughter was hospitalized because Panera did not follow their instructions that the order was for a girl with a peanut allergy.
The parents put in an online order to a Panera in Natick, Massachusetts on January 28, according to the Boston Globe. Russo told the Globe.
When Elissa’s husband John arrived home later that evening, he discovered that his daughter, who was 5 at the time of the incident, had bitten into a grilled cheese that contained “lots of peanut butter”. She was taken to Newton-Wellesley Hospital and was only allowed to go home the following day. Russo does not believe the manager’s explanation.
The manager of the Natick, Mass. store that served the sandwich apologized to the family and “blamed the incident on a language issue” that may have been caused by an employee who knew limited English.
Franchisee PR Restaurants owns the Panera Bread targeted in the suit.
Panera Bread did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
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Panera does include an advisory on its website warning that it “cannot guarantee” foods will be free of allergens because of shared equipment, but the family’s attorneys said the case isn’t one of accidental cross contamination.
