Legal action against a grocery chain has been started by the family of a 78-year-old woman who sadly passed death after a strong allergic response. April 7, 2023 Peggy Bryant was food shopping at a Safeway supermarket in Duvall, Washington.
She bought a cookie among other things during her visit and chose to taste what she thought to be an oatmeal cookie soon after she left the store.
But Peggy soon after biting discovered, as her daughter Lisa Bishop related, that the cookie was not the oatmeal sort she had anticipated. This startling discovery came just before she experienced a severe allergic response, which finally resulted in her premature death—an incident made all the more tragic as it happened just months before her 60th wedding anniversary.
Following this catastrophe, Lisa has gone so far as to sue Safeway, run by Albertsons Companies. According to the lawsuit, the cookie—which was actually a peanut butter cookie—was incorrectly labeled as a “oatmeal raisin cookie”. Shortly after her first bite, Lisa told KING 5 Seattle reporters that her mother discovered the cookie included peanuts, an item Peggy was deadly allergic to.
Peggy was driven directly to the medical center. Lisa, however, brought the awful news: her mother passed about one hour after consuming the cookie. The family sought a thorough investigation on the circumstances of her mother’s death from the coroner, and supposedly it revealed that anaphylaxis—a potentially fatal allergic reaction—was clearly responsible for Peggy’s death. The Mayo Clinic defines anaphylaxis as a severe reaction brought on by allergens including peanuts that may strike seconds or minutes of contact.
Further underscoring the seriousness of Peggy’s condition, another family member disclosed the coroner had observed her blood arteries had basically collapsed. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigated Safeway following this episode.
Later, they advised a product recall, which Safeway responded with a letter declaring, “Albertsons Companies Voluntarily Recalls Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Sold at a Safeway Store in Duvall, Washington Due to an Undeclared Peanut and Soy Allergen.”
Now over two years have gone since the catastrophe, Peggy’s family is still dedicated to find responsibility via their case against Safeway. Their goal is not only to make the business answerable for the labeling mistake but also to fight for better food labeling policies to stop other tragedies. “My mom’s last moments of life were marred with suffering, fear, and tragedy,” Lisa said.
In search of justice, Lisa has contacted Safeway asking the business to stand ethically based on morality. She wants to bring attention and make sure no other family suffers a similar catastrophe by telling her mother’s terrible experience. “Labels are quite important, and we want to make sure nobody else suffers from mislabeling,” she said determinedly. Her goal is not only to demand responsibility but also to start a domino effect of change in the sector by supporting improved methods that give consumers’ safety top priority.