The family of a woman with an acute dairy allergy who died after eating a Pret a Manger sandwich contaminated with milk say her death was "entirely avoidable". Celia Marsh, 42, a dental nurse from Melksham, Wiltshire, died on December 27, 2017 after eating a super veg vegan wrap from the sandwich chain's Bath store.
The yoghurt dressing in the wrap was later found to be contaminated with traces of milk protein stemming from a starch manufactured in a facility handling dairy products. The mother-of-five purchased the wrap at 2.08pm, and within 15 minutes entered into acute anaphylactic shock. She was declared dead at 4pm.
On Thursday, a coroner at Avon Coroner's Court in Bristol concluded that the yoghurt manufacturer had documentation warning it of the risk of cross-contamination of the starch. The CoYo branded yoghurt, which is Australian, was licenced for manufacture in the UK to a company called Planet Coconut.
