A mislabeled holiday dessert has led to the death of a talented young dancer.
New York performer Órla Baxendale died Jan. 11 due to anaphylactic shock resulting from a “severe” allergic reaction, her lawyer shared in a statement Jan. 24. She was 25.
Baxendale’s passing was caused by “an unfortunate incident” after she ate a cookie that contained undisclosed peanuts, according to her legal team, which called the mislabel a “tragic oversight.”
Following her death, supermarket chain Stew Leonard’s recalled about 500 packages of the Vanilla Florentine Cookie that were sold from Nov. 6 to Dec. 31 at stores in Danbury and Newington, Conn., per the Associated Press.
The dancer’s lawyer said the medical emergency was caused by “gross negligence and reckless conduct,” because the manufacturer or seller allegedly “failed to properly identify the contents of the cookie on the packaging.”
Sharing his devastation over the incident, Stew Leonard’s CEO Stew Leonard Jr. said the supplier changed the recipe from soy nuts to peanuts without notifying them. However, the manufacturer Cookies United said it had informed Stew Leonard’s of the ingredient change several months prior.