The family of Celia Marsh, who suffered a fatal allergic reaction in December 2017 after eating a flatbread from Pret a Manger, will be paid £1.25m in compensation.
Marsh, a 42-year old mother of five, died in December 2017 after eating a Super-Veg Rainbow Flatbread that had been labelled as a vegan product, but was later found to contain traces of dairy.
The wrap contained yoghurt produced by Planet Coconut, the UK manufacturer and distributor of CoYo dairy-free yoghurt, a company based in Australia.
In an out-of-court settlement agreed by Marsh’s widower, Andy Marsh, the family will receive £1.25m compensation, with Pret to pay more than £300,000. Planet Coconut’s insurers will be liable for the remaining sum.
A spokesperson for Pret said: “We can confirm that Pret has contributed to a settlement with Celia Marsh’s family. While we know this will never make up for the death of Celia, we wanted to play our part in resolving this and help the family move on from this tragedy.”
Following an inquest in 2022, senior coroner for Avon, Maria Voisin, ruled Planet Coconut had failed to pass on documents in its possession flagging the risk of dairy contamination.
Voisin wrote at the time: “A product which is marked ‘dairy-free’ should be free from dairy.
“The contamination arose because an ingredient in the yoghurt called HG1 had become cross-contaminated with milk protein during its manufacture.
“The manufacturer of the dairy-free yoghurt had in its possession documents which flagged this risk, but this risk was not passed on to its customers.”
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