Second allergy death victim named as Pret supplier hits back

The second customer thought to have died after suffering an allergic reaction to a Pret A Manger sandwich has been identified.

Avon Coroner’s Office said dental nurse Celia Marsh, 42, from Melksham, died at the Royal United Hospital in Bath on December 27 last year.

A spokesman said inquiries into her death were continuing and no date had yet been fixed for a full inquest hearing.

Mrs Marsh is thought to have suffered the reaction after eating a “super-veg rainbow flatbread” containing a yoghurt which was supposed to be dairy-free but was later found to have traces of dairy protein in it.

The firm blamed by Pret A Manger for supplying the yoghurt hit back at the food chain on Sunday, describing its claims as “unfounded”.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said it investigated supplier CoYo, which later issued an allergy alert and recalled its coconut yoghurts.

But CoYo denied the recall was linked to Mrs Marsh’s death and accused Pret of hampering its own probe by failing to provide vital information.

Details of Mrs Marsh’s death emerged as Pret was facing scrutiny over the case of 15-year-old Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, who was allergic to sesame and died after eating one of its baguettes.

Pret said it had been “mis-sold” a guaranteed dairy-free yoghurt by CoYo that was found to contain dairy protein.

CoYo, a coconut milk brand that has been endorsed by TV cook Nigella Lawson, recalled some yoghurts in February.

But on Sunday, CoYo denied this was related, saying that product was supplied to it in January – after the woman’s death.

“The dairy-free product we provided to Pret in December 2017, at the time of this tragedy, is not linked to the product we recalled in February 2018,” a spokeswoman said.

“Pret’s inability to provide us with a batch code, despite several requests, has severely limited our ability to investigate this further.”

Bath Council alerted Pret to the incident and the chain said on Saturday it then withdrew all affected products, ended its CoYo contract and launched legal action.

“Subsequent testing by Pret and two independent authorities found that the CoYo dairy-free yoghurt contained traces of dairy protein,” a Pret spokesman added.

Pret announced last week that it will include full ingredient labelling on all of its products and the Government is considering a law change after the death of Natasha, from Fulham, south-west London.

She collapsed on board a flight in July 2016 after eating an artichoke, olive and tapenade baguette she had bought in Heathrow Airport.

Natasha’s parents, Nadim and Tanya Ednan-Laperouse, have since campaigned for allergy awareness and a change in food labelling laws.

“We were incredibly saddened to learn of someone else losing their life from allergens in their food,” they said in a statement on Sunday.