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A Washington family is suing grocery chain Safeway over the death of their beloved 78-year-old grandmother, who died after eating a peanut butter cookie that they say was incorrectly labeled.
Margaret Jean “Peggy” Bryant purchased a cookie, which was packaged as an oatmeal raisin cookie, from a Safeway store in Duvall on April 7, 2023. Her family said she was “deathly allergic” to peanuts.
According to legal documents seen by The Independent, later that night, Bryant began eating one of the cookies from this package and almost immediately complained of feeling unwell. She went to the bathroom and was found unresponsive by her husband, Dennis Bryant, a short time later. Despite calling 911 and an ambulance, she went into cardiac arrest and later died.
The couple, who were childhood sweethearts and had been married for 59 years, were due to celebrate their 60th wedding later this year.
“Do the right thing, and I don’t want it to happen to anybody else,” her daughter Lisa Bishop told KBTX. “Labels are there for a reason and I don’t want anybody else to die from mislabeling.”
It was later discovered that the cookies purchased by the Bryants had been incorrectly labeled by Duvall Safeway bakery staff and, to the family's horror, the package of cookies sold to them contained peanut butter cookies rather than oatmeal raisin cookies, according to the lawsuit.
An autopsy concluded that her manner of death was an "accident" and that Bryant died from food-induced anaphylaxis and peanut toxicity caused by these negligently mislabeled cookies.
The health department did an inspection and requested a recall. Safeway have issued a notice in response.
The Bryant family has demanded $9.5 million to resolve the case.
“Obviously, no amount of money can compensate for this loss,” a letter from family lawyers stated. “Peggy was an active, healthy, warm, vibrant, loving woman with a bright smile.
“She still had many years of life left to enjoy, love and support her husband, children and grandchildren, extended family and future blessings of great-grandchildren,” the lawyer noted.
Bishop, called for stores to take more care.
“My mom loved oatmeal raisin cookies,” she told KBTX. “She realized that the cookie she was eating was actually a peanut butter cookie and she’s deathly allergic to nuts, peanuts.”
According to Bishop, and the the lawsuit, Bryant endured “unimaginable pain and suffering shortly before her death.”
The Independent has reached out to Albertson Companies, which owns Safeway, for comment.
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