Woman Dies From Eating Mislabeled Cookies Containing Nuts

A 25-year-old woman died after eating a mislabeled clamshell pack of cookies that had peanuts in it from the retailer Stew Leonard’s. Orla Baxendale was allergic and died of anaphylactic shock after eating the cookie at a gathering in Connecticut.

“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,” reads a portion of a statement from the law firm of Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf.

The Vanilla Florentine Cookies the woman ingested were sold at Stew Leonard’s in Newington and Danbury, Connecticut, and had undeclared peanuts inside. The seasonal cookies from Cookies United had a best-by date of Jan. 5 and were available from Nov. 6 to Dec. 31.

Stew Leonard’s says it purchased the now-recalled Vanilla Florentine Cookies from Cookies United, a wholesaler out of New York. The grocery store said it was not notified of peanuts in the product, WFSB reports. However, Cookies United claims that it did inform Stew Leonard’s of the inclusion of nuts, but the cookies appeared to be repackaged without the indicator noted.

“It was a holiday cookie, it was a one-shot deal. We bought it from an outside supplier and unfortunately, this supplier changed the recipe and started going from soy nuts to peanuts, and our chief safety officer was never notified,” said Stew Leonard Jr., the grocery store’s president and CEO, in a video statement given to WFSB on Wednesday.

“Consumers with a nut allergy should immediately dispose of the cookies or return them to the point of sale and seek medical attention if necessary,” the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) said in a press release. Connecticut health officials and their New York and New Jersey counterparts are now working with the FDA and Stew Leonard’s to investigate the incident.

Baxendale was born in the United Kingdom and moved to New York to pursue a career as a dancer. Her family believes Stew Leonard’s is responsible for Orla’s death. “This is a heartbreaking tragedy that should never have happened,” Cafferelli said.