The family of a 78-year-old mother who died shortly after taking a single bite of a grocery store cookie have begun legal action against the supermarket.
Peggy Bryant, from Washington, was just months away from celebrating her 60th wedding anniversary when she bought what she believed were oatmeal and raisin cookies in April 2023.
However, when she took a bite of the sweet treat, she realized that something was very wrong.
Her family alleges that the cookie, which was bought from Safeway in Duvall, Washington, was actually a peanut butter cookie which had been mislabeled – and caused a deadly allergic reaction.
Her daughter Lisa Bishop told King 5 News on Thursday: “My mom loved Oatmeal raisin cookies. She realized that the cookie she was eating was actually a peanut butter cookie and she’s deathly allergic to peanuts.”
Bryant was rushed to hospital but tragically died an hour later from anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic reaction.
Greg Bishop, Bryant’s son-in-law, added that the King County Coroner stated that that her “blood vessels had basically broken down.”
Bryant’s family revealed on Thursday that they have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Safeway in the wake of their mother’s death.
Almost a month after the tragedy, Albertsons Companies, Inc., which owns Safeway, issued a voluntary recall of the oatmeal and raisin cookies which were being sold at the Duvall location due to an “undeclared peanut and soy allergen,” according to a recall notice by the Food and Drug Administration, as reported by the New York Post.
The recall was for the 18-count cookies which were sold between April 5 and April 17, 2023.
The recall read: “We have received a report that a package of cookies was labeled as Oatmeal Raisin but may have contained Peanut Butter Cookies.
“As a result, peanuts and soy were not listed within the ingredient statement. The recalled cookies were packaged in clear plastic containers available within the store’s bakery department.”
The recall read: “We have received a report that a package of cookies was labeled as Oatmeal Raisin but may have contained Peanut Butter Cookies.
“As a result, peanuts and soy were not listed within the ingredient statement. The recalled cookies were packaged in clear plastic containers available within the store’s bakery department.”
According to the family’s lawsuit, they suggest that Bryant’s death was preventable if the cookies had been labeled correctly.
Lisa Bishop said: “The last few minutes of my mom’s life were tragic and awful and painful.
“Do the right thing. I don’t want it to happen to anybody else. Labels are there for a reason, and I don’t want anybody else to die from mislabeling.”
Bryant is not the only person to have tragically died from an allegedly mislabeled food, as in January 2024, 25-year-old Orla Baxendale, a professional dancer from New York, passed away after eating incorrectly labeled holiday cookies from a Stew Leonards supermarket.
🗣 JUST IN: Professional dancer Orla Baxendale, 25, dies from allergic reaction to mislabeled cookies from Stew Leonard's.
Family attorney Marijo Adimey called the incident "100% preventable."
Tragedy struck as Orla Baxendale, a UK-born dancer living in Manhattan, suffered… pic.twitter.com/davaqSqVik
— Hank™ (@HANKonX) January 25, 2024
Baxendale suffered from a severe allergic reaction to peanuts in the cookie and was unable to recover as her EpiPen was reportedly inaffective, according to her family’s lawyer.
The family accused the store of “gross negligence and reckless indifference to the rights of others and an intentional wanton violation of those rights” by professionals who failed to update the ingredient label.
Baxendale’s family reached an undisclosed settlement with Stew Leonard’s in January 2025, according to the Connecticut Post.
Our thoughts remain with both families in the wake of these tragedies.
