Coconut yoghurt brand CoYo hit back at Pret a Manger this week, after the sandwich chain blamed a contaminated batch of dairy-free yoghurt for the death of a customer in its Bath store in December 2017.
The victim, named as dental nurse Celia Marsh, died after eating a Pret Super-Veg Rainbow Flatbread which was supposed to be dairy-free. Pret says that the cause of the fatal anaphylactic reaction was a batch of CoYo’s yoghurt, which, when tested, had been shown to contain dairy protein. Pret says it was ‘mis-sold a guaranteed dairy-free yoghurt’.
But in a statement released on social media, CoYo insists that the ‘true cause’ is still unknown. The company says that the claims made by Pret are ‘unfounded’ and that a contamination incident involving its products in February 2018 (which led to an investigation by the Food Standards Agency, and a recall of all its dairy-free yoghurts) was not related to the Pret case. It adds that the product recalled in 2018 was ‘made with contaminated raw material that was only supplied to us in January 2018’.
CoYo claims that its own investigation has been hampered by a lack of co-operation by Pret. “Pret’s inability to provide us with a batch code, despite several requests, has severely limited our ability to investigate thus further.”
CoYo is urging all parties to work together, and ‘not to speculate on the cause of this tragic death’.
Pret has now agreed to full labelling of ingredients on all its freshly made products following the case of 15-year-old Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, who was allergic to sesame and died on a flight after eating one of its baguettes bought at Heathrow airport. The case has led to intense scrutiny of the retailer’s allergy policy, following claims that it had failed to respond to earlier requests to give more allergen information on products. Pret argued that it was operating within the law, since there is currently no requirement for full ingredients disclosure for food prepared on site.
