The parents of an Ivy League student who allegedly died after drinking a Charged Lemonade at Panera Bread filed a lawsuit Monday claiming dangerous ingredients were not appropriately identified, according to NBC News.
The University of Pennsylvania student, 21-year-old Sarah Katz, had a heart condition called QT syndrome type 1, according to NBC. According to the lawsuit, Katz’s doctors advised her to avoid high caffeinated drinks like Panera’s Charged Lemonade.
“She was very, very vigilant about what she needed to do to keep herself safe,” Katz’s roommate and close friend Victoria Rose Conroy said, per NBC News. “I guarantee if Sarah had known how much caffeine this was, she never would have touched it with a 10-foot pole.” (RELATED: Teen Dies After Eating Spicy Chip For Internet Challenge, Family Claims)
The parents of a 21-year-old college student are suing Panera Bread after the woman died just hours after drinking its “Charged Lemonade.”https://t.co/qPBmy65lWv
— Local 12/WKRC-TV (@Local12) October 24, 2023
Katz bought and consumed the Charged Lemonade from a Philadelphia Panera Bread on September 10, 2022 and died from cardiac arrest hours later, the lawsuit claims, according to NBC.
A Charged Lemonade contains more caffeine than cans of Red Bull and Monster Energy combined, the lawsuit says, according to NBC.
Nutrition facts on Panera’s website confirm a large Charged Lemonade has more caffeine than any of the various sizes of Panera’s dark roast coffee, the complaint says.
“I think everyone thinks lemonade is safe. And really, this isn’t lemonade at all. It’s an energy drink that has lemon flavor,” Philadelphia lawyer Elizabeth Crawford said. “It should have an adequate warning.”
A Panera spokesperson said in a statement Monday: “We were very saddened to learn this morning about the tragic passing of Sarah Katz, and our hearts go out to her family. At Panera, we strongly believe in transparency around our ingredients. We will work quickly to thoroughly investigate this matter.”
Katz’s parents, who NBC said declined to speak about the lawsuit, want people to know what exactly is in a Charged Lemonade before they buy it, Crawford said.
“That has become their most important thing, is making the public aware of these dangers to make sure that it doesn’t happen to someone else,” she said.
“She was taken from us so soon, and she shouldn’t have been,” Katz’s friend Conroy said. “She had so much more to give.”