Written for Allergic Living‘s website.
A lawsuit in the death of an Alabama boy, who suffered fatal anaphylaxis from eating a cookie, could have broad implications for supermarket bakeries and food-allergic consumers.
The family of 11-year-old Derek “Landon” Wood filed the lawsuit, in which a crucial aspect is whether a grocery store’s bakery should be required to label all of its products, since many of them are made, either entirely or mostly, off the bakery premises.
Publix Super Markets, which sold the cookie, takes issue with that interpretation of the U.S. food allergen labeling law, known as FALCPA (Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act). It had filed a motion to get the case dismissed.
But on June 11, 2015, a U.S. district judge denied that motion, finding that the family’s case has sufficient merit, and allowing the case to proceed.
Ishani Nath 