Dancer died from eating mislabeled cookies at a social gathering

A 25-year-old professional dancer, identified as Órla Baxendale, died from anaphylactic shock on January 11 after eating mislabeled Stew Leonard’s cookies at a social gathering in Connecticut.

Attorneys representing the British native who moved to New York to pursue a career as a ballet dancer, said she died of anaphylactic shock on Jan. 11 resulting from a severe allergic reaction after eating the mislabeled cookies.

“Preliminary investigation has revealed that Órla’s death occurred due to the gross negligence and reckless conduct of the manufacturer and/or sellers who failed to properly identify the contents of the cookie on the packaging,” read a statement from the firm Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf. “This failure in proper disclosure has led to this devastating yet preventable outcome.”

The Connecticut Department of Public Health warned that store brand Vanilla Florentine Cookies sold at the regional grocery chain Stew Leonard’s contain peanuts.

The allergen was not properly marked on packaging, as is required under Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines. 

“This is a heartbreaking tragedy that should never have happened,” said Connecticut Consumer Protection Commissioner Bryan T. Cafferelli.

“DCP Food Investigators are working hard with the Department of Public Health, local health departments, officials in New York State and New Jersey, the Food and Drug Administration and Stew Leonard’s to determine how this error happened and prevent a similar tragedy from occurring in the future,” said Cafferelli.

A ballet, contemporary, and Irish step dancer, Baxendale moved to New York from the United Kingdom in 2018 to train as a scholarship student at the Ailey School.

An obituary for Baxendale described her as “an embodiment of enthusiasm, strength, and beauty.”

The retailer is recalling Vanilla and Chocolate Florentine Cookies that contain undeclared peanuts and eggs and were sold only at Stew Leonard’s in Danbury and Newington, Conn. from November 6 – December 31, 2023.

Stew Leonard Jr., the grocery chain’s CEO, posted a video message Wednesday in which he said it was a “sad day” for his family and expressed sympathy. “I have four daughters. One of them is in her 20s,” he said. “I can imagine how that family feels right now.” He deflected blame for the alleged mislabeling, saying that the wholesaler from which his company purchased the cookies had changed its recipe and did not notify the grocer’s chief safety officer that the items contained peanuts.

But that wholesaler, Cookies Unlimited, claims that it did notify Stew Leonard’s of the switch from soy nuts to peanuts in the Florentine cookies.

It provided a copy of a letter it said was sent to 11 Stewart Leonard’s employees alerting them to the change. “This letter is to inform you that the below listed items have had a change of ingredients and now contain peanuts,” reads the letter, which is dated July 11. Cookies Unlimited provided redacted email addresses of the employees it said it sent the letter to.

People with an allergy or severe sensitivity to peanuts or eggs run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume these products and the company acknowledged that one reported death may be associated with the mislabeled product.

Stew Leonard’s is a regional chain of seven supermarkets in Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey, which Ripley’s Believe It or Not! deemed “The World’s Largest Dairy” and Fortune magazine listed as one of the “100 Best Companies to work for” in 2011.

Stew Leonard’s said that it is working with the FDA and issued a recall for the cookies. Customers who purchased the products will receive a full refund when they bring them back to the store.

Affected products were sold in Danbury and Newington Connecticut from Nov. 6 to Dec. 31.

The cookies were manufactured by Cookies United, a New York based wholesaler. They are then packaged and sold under Stew Leonard’s branding.