Pret ‘did not check suppliers’ dairy-free claims’ before mum-of-five’s death
Pret a Manger did not check its manufacturers’ claims that dairy free products were being supplied for its vegan ranges, a court has heard.
An inquest into the death of Celia Marsh, who had a fatal allergic reaction after a super-veg rainbow flatbread, was told that the company did not audit the claims made by a supplier.
Mrs Marsh, 42, died in Somerset two days after Christmas in 2017, shortly after eating the product, which was later found to contain yoghurt with traces of dairy protein, despite being advertised as vegan.
The mum-of-five, from Melksham, Wiltshire, had a severe dairy allergy.
The yoghurt was produced by Planet Coconut, the UK manufacturer and distributor of products developed by Australia-based yoghurt company CoYo.
Kirsty Langford, a trading standards officer for Bath and North East Somerset Council, told the inquest that one ingredient supplier in the supply change had never claimed its starch was suitable for a dairy-free claim.
She said: ‘When a dairy-free claim is made on a product you expect some sort of testing to be taking place.
‘That may not itself be the responsibility of Pret A Manger but it would probably be Pret’s responsibility to ensure their supplier was undertaking some sort of testing.
Ms Langford continued: ‘When we went back to Planet Coconut we weren’t supplied with any test certificate and we weren’t sure that Pret had been supplied with any either – we haven’t been supplied with any evidence of that.
‘That becomes more important when there is a dairy-free claim on the product, that is when you would expect finished product testing to make sure that “free-from” claim can be verified.’
The incident in Bath saw dental nurse Mrs Marsh collapse in the street, following a post-Christmas shopping trip with her husband and three daughters.
She had eaten the wrap thinking that it was free from dairy but Ms Langford suggested that a free-from claim on a product would ordinarily be supported by a risk assessment by the retailer checking all the processes and ingredients in the supply chain.
The trading standards officer said that Planet Coconut had argued it was testing its product for allergens every year, and added that how often a product should be tested was not enshrined in law.
‘There is nothing in law to say how often you should be testing, there is nothing in law to say you should be testing every batch for example,’ Ms Langford said.
‘With a small supplier like Planet Coconut it would be less often than a bigger (company).’
She added: ‘I would expect Pret to check that testing was being undertaken through their supplier – there were supplier audits being undertaken (by Pret) but I don’t think the audit picked up on the testing of the product.’
An investigation into Planet Coconut found the yoghurt contained few ingredients – primarily coconut cream and ‘HG1’ starch supplied by sugar giant Tate & Lyle.
Period dignity officer job axed after backlash for appointing a manThe starch was identified as the possible source of the contamination.
‘Tate & Lyle had never said the HG1 starch was suitable for a dairy-free claim,’ Ms Langford said.
A bag of the starch had the warning: ‘Manufactured in a factory that handles milk, eggs, cereals containing gluten, sulphur dioxide and sulphites.’
Ms Langford said Tate & Lyle had said the information concerning the risk of contamination in its products was passed to Planet Coconut, while Planet Coconut said it was not.
The court heard that the trace of milk in the flatbread was so small that it would only be expected to have an effect on around 5% of people with the most acute dairy allergy.
Mrs Marsh’s husband Andy said his wife had ‘religiously’ avoided dairy after suffering a near-fatal incident a few months previously, when she had to have 15 shots of adrenalin.
Pret was charged with food safety failures in the wake of Mrs Marsh’s death, but the prosecution was later dropped due to lack of evidence.
All Pret sandwiches are displayed with a warning explaining that they are made onsite in a busy kitchen, and that the company cannot guarantee they are suitable for people with allergies.
The inquest was told that food standards officers found no evidence that cross contamination had occurred within Pret’s Bath kitchen.
The inquest, at Ashton Court Mansion House in Bristol, continues and is expected to last between two and three weeks.
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MORE : Mum-of-five collapsed and died after eating Pret vegan wrap that had dairy in it