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LONDON – On her way to a vacation in France with her father, Natasha Ednan-Laperouse took a sandwich at a Pret A Manger store at Heathrow Airport. She read the label carefully because she was suffering from a severe allergy to sesame.
But the baguette with artichokes, olives and tapenade that she had chosen had sesame seeds cooked in her dough and did not mention the fact. Ms. Ednan-Laperouse, 15, collapsed as a result of cardiac arrest during the flight and died within two hours.
Friday, a London coroner's court investigation revealed that the labeling of the sandwich was "inadequate" because it did not warn the seeds "hidden" sesame.
"There was no specific information on the allergen on the baguette wrap or on the showcase, and that reassured Natasha," said coroner, Sean Cummings, in his ruling.
Ready to eat did not break the law, said Mr Cummings, but he did not take allergen monitoring seriously. The company had been warned of allergic reactions to its chopsticks six times before the death of Ms. Ednan-Laperouse on July 17, 2016, according to the survey.
He said he would write to the government to recommend a change of British food regulations, which require restaurants to inform their customers if foods contain potentially dangerous allergens such as sesame, peanuts or eggs, do not require that items be labeled individually if they are made on the spot.
"Food labeling laws have played Russian roulette with our daughter's life," Natasha's father, Nadim Ednan-Laperouse, told a news conference on Friday. "This survey should be a turning point for making meaningful changes and saving lives."
The sandwich chain – which has More than 500 sites around the world, mainly in Great Britain, but also in China, France, the Netherlands, Singapore and the United States, have since changed the design of the labels on their refrigerators.
"All of us at Pret want this tragedy to bring significant change. We will make sure that happens, "said company chief executive Clive Schlee on Friday.
Another woman who had a severe allergic reaction to a Pret sandwich said that the action had arrived too late. Amy Mills, a 37-year-old bank employee, said she was hospitalized two years before Mrs. Ednan-Laperouse's death after eating a cheese, tomato and basil sandwich at a West London Pret store.
"In 2014, they would have had to change labeling when they called me and they complained, but they had to wait until someone died," she said at the time. 39, a telephone interview.
"When I called Pret, they apologized and sent me free vouchers, but they did not change the labeling immediately and they still can not guarantee that They can make sandwiches without killer allergens ". Note on the Pret website that he uses "multiple ingredients" in his kitchens.
A Pret spokesman said the company could not immediately comment on Ms. Mills' complaint.
The director of risk and compliance, Jonathan Perkins, said in the survey that he accepted that many people had negative and tragic experiences eating sandwiches, but that thousands of people with allergies had Nevertheless, they could shop safely. .
"As an allergy sufferer, none of the comments that have come out of Pret since this tragic incident have put me at ease," said Ms. Mills. "Why should we risk it?"
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