A professional dancer from the UK tragically died in New York after eating a mislabelled holiday cookie containing peanuts.
Orla Baxendale, 25, suffered a severe allergic reaction and went into anaphylactic shock after consuming a Vanilla Florentine cookie on January 11, according to a statement released by Attorney Marijo Adimey.
The cookie was eaten at a social gathering in Connecticut and had been purchased from popular supermarket Stew Leonard’s.
“Orla’s passing stemmed from an unfortunate incident involving the consumption of a cookie manufactured by Cookies United and sold by Stew Leonard’s, which contained undisclosed peanuts,” Adimey wrote.
The tragic mistake has led to the recall of the Vanilla Florentine Cookies from Stew Leonard’s stores in Danbury and Newington, CT, for the period of November 6 December 31, 2023.
The investigation into Baxendale’s death revealed “gross negligence and reckless conduct of the manufacturer and/or sellers” for not stating on the cookies’ packaging that the product contained peanuts.
“This failure in proper disclosure has led to this devastating yet preventable outcome,” the attorney added. Baxendale, originally from Manchester, moved to New York City in 2018 to train as a scholarship student at The Ailey School.
Baxendale had performed at New York Fashion Week and taken part in dance shows at the Lincoln Center.
Stew Leonard’s, a regional supermarket chain, said they were not informed about a change in ingredients in their vanilla Florentine Cookies by the Long Island bakery they buy them.
“I’m here with our family and, I mean we’re just all devastated, very sad. I have four daughters, one of them is in her twenties. I can imagine how that family feels right now,” CEO Stew Leonard Jr. said in a video, according to News 12.
However, the wholesaler, Cookies United, claimed they did inform Stew Leonard’s about the change in ingredients months before Baxendale’s death.
“Stew Leonard’s claimed in an earlier press release that “the cookies contain peanuts, which was an ingredient not disclosed to Stew Leonard’s by the manufacturer,'” United Cookies wrote in a statement Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, considering the tragedy of these circumstances, we need to point out that Stew Leonard’s was notified by Cookies United in July of 2023 that this product now contains peanuts and all products shipped to them have been labeled accordingly.”
The wholesaler alleges that Stew Leonard’s changed the packaging to represent the store’s brand but failed to properly label the cookies as containing peanuts before they hit the shelves.
The supermarket has since issued a recall for the seasonal product on Tuesday.
The Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection Food, Standards and Product Safety Division (DCP) shared that they are investigating the deadly mishap with officials in Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey, the Food and Drug Administration, and Stew Leonard’s.
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