Posted on 09/06/2022 7:28:11 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The husband of a woman who died after eating a Pret a Manger wrap has told an inquest of the harrowing moment she collapsed unable to breathe. Celia Marsh, 42, died on December 27, 2017, after eating a super-veg rainbow flatbread.
The wrap had contained yogurt that was supposed to be vegan but was later found to have traces of dairy protein in it. The mother of five suffered from a severe dairy allergy and Avon Coroner’s Court was told she “religiously avoided” all such products following a near-fatal allergic reaction months earlier.
Mrs Marsh’s death followed that of 15-year-old Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, who died in 2016 after eating a Pret baguette containing sesame seeds, bought at Heathrow.
Natasha had a sesame allergy. The tragedy sparked an overhaul of food labelling laws last year. Retailers must now display full ingredient and allergen labelling on food made on the premises as well as pre-packed items.
Mrs Marsh, a dental nurse from Melksham, Wilts, had been on a post-Christmas shopping trip with her husband and three of her daughters when she went into a Pret in Bath, Somerset. In his statement, Andy Marsh said his wife had begun to feel “a bit funny” after eating the wrap.
He said: “We started walking down the narrow side street... Celia had her asthma inhaler out.
“She used it a couple of times and I asked her if she was OK. She said she was struggling to breathe but it may be because of the cold air. We then moved to a small side street on the left and I pulled her to one side.”
He said Mrs Marsh had thought she was “being silly” because the sandwich had been labelled vegan.
He added: “She had her EpiPen in her hand and I said to her that if she thought there was any chance she was having a reaction that she should just do it and use the pen.
“She then said to me ‘You need to phone an ambulance’.”
Mr Marsh said he phoned 999 by which time his wife had collapsed and was being tended to by an off-duty GP.
A civil servant who came to her aid said a crowd had formed as she lay on the ground.
He described the scene as “disturbing” and said he saw Mr Marsh attempting to comfort his young daughter.
Mrs Marsh was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead at 4pm.
Pret was charged with food safety failures, but the prosecution was later dropped due to lack of evidence.
The company said it w
“severity of allergies has risen over the last 50 years.”
Yeah, I’ve noticed that as well as read about that, too.
When I was a kid long ago, everybody brought PB&J sandwiches to school for lunch.
Yes, when I was a kid, there were peanuts everywhere. And I supposed some kids did have allergies, but I don’t remember any emergencies.
That is the way it should be. If I had a severe allergy to something, I just feel it would be my responsibility to avoid it if it is that dangerous to me, and to have the proper medication if there is some at all times, ensuring it is the right strength, not expired, and that I know how to administer it.
My ex-girlfriend’s mother died tragically when she had a severe asthma attack, and her poor husband broke both of the epi-pens trying to administer it.
Awful. Just awful. It really broke him.
I have a friend who is allergic to fish, among other things, but I don’t think it’s fatal.
“they didn’t think butter would be a problem”
Holy crap! A HOSPITAL nutritionist thought that? Of course, that was probably long ago before everybody got sensitized to the potential problem.
I met a young lady on a flight to Boston over 40 years ago. We hit it off and we dated a few times on my return business trips to Boston. We went to Legal Seafood one night on a date. She knew she was allergic to shellfish, yet she ordered the lobster anyway! By the end of the meal, she was breaking out in hives all over the place. She was so miserable I dropped her off and said “good night.” LOL...that was a date I’ll never forget! It never occurred to me that she might have died from that allergic reaction.
A friend's daughter has a severe dairy and nut allergy. she would never feed her daughter anything from a restaurant ever.
I always wondered what has changed with the food supply. Just a few years ago I experienced a severe allergic food related reaction where I ended up in ICU. For an unknown reason I have become allergic to vegetables.
That ain’t the half of it. A friend and I ate at a Taco Time, years ago. He got condiments in packets, and I got the little paper cups of bulk stuff. For whatever reason I got a pretty nasty staph infection. He was fine. The place looked quite clean. There was a little runt of a beaner that couldn’t speak a word on intelligible English in there. I’m sure he probably had a third grade education. Trying to get the rudiments of microbiology into his idiot skull would seem impossible. .
Pretty a mourir.
“They seem to say that the severity of allergies has risen over the last 50 years.”
I think a kind of general theory about things like this is that we are just TOO clean nowadays. People do not get the chances to develop the immunities they once did.
Disclaimer: this is something I’ve gleaned from reading, unlike Dog Murderer Dr. A. Fauci, I am not “Science”.
This is truth.
Pret a mourir.
I hate spell check (Je déteste le correcteur orthographique).
It for sure happens.
Most people are genuinely shocked to learn that one can be allergic to veggies, but that is often the result of a cross reactivity to some kind of pollen in a similar plant family.
OTOH, you could have a mast cell disorder and something besides an allergen is provoking an allergic type response.
Look up MCAD - Mast Cell Activation Syndrome
That’s what I have been diagnosed with and I can’t eat any veggies. I react to them all.
:-)
Some say it’s not the food supply but the vaccinations. When I was a kid we got 4. I have heard now some kids get up to 80 with large multiples given at once.
Media coverage of allergies has risen...
Regards,
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.