News

Panera sued over young girl's allergy incident

June 6, 2016

The family of a six-year-old girl is suing Panera for allegedly serving a grilled cheese sandwich mixed with peanut butter.

The lawsuit, according to CNBC, was filed last week against the parent company and a group of franchisees in New England. The suit claims the young girl suffered a serious allergy ailment and had to be rushed to the hospital for treatment.

The girl's parents said they double checked the sandwich order on Jan. 28 deliberately to ensure there would be no allergy incident. Panera Bread did not comment to CNBC, and the news report claims the Panera store manager apologized to the family and called the incident the result of a language issue. He said the order taker added it to the sandwich by mistake.

A Boston Globe report said the girl's father, John Russo, and mother Elissa said they have been diligent in choosing meals for their daughter because of her peanut allergy.

The suit states Panera "engaged in unfair and deceptive business practices by adding peanut butter to the plaintiff's grilled cheese sandwich knowing that [she] has a life-threatening peanut allergy," according to the Globe.