The relatives of a dental nurse with a severe milk allergy have secured a £1.25million payout at the High Court following her death from eating a contaminated Pret a Manger sandwich.
Celia Marsh, a mother-of-five from Melksham in Wiltshire, passed away in 2017 after consuming a "vegan rainbow" flatbread that contained milk protein despite being labelled dairy-free.
Her husband Andy, who called her his "best friend," brought the legal action against both the café chain and the product's manufacturer, Planet Coconut Ltd.
The settlement will see Pret cover 25 per cent of the total sum, whilst Planet Coconut's insurers will be responsible for the remaining 75 per cent.
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Master Mark Gidden approved the settlement during a video-link hearing.
Mrs Marsh, 42, had developed an extremely cautious approach to eating after a frightening incident months before her death, when she required adrenaline injections following an allergic reaction.
Her eldest daughter, Ashleigh Grice, said her mother had lived in "constant fear" and religiously checked all food labelling.
On the day of the tragedy, Mrs Marsh was enjoying a post-Christmas shopping trip in Bath with her husband and three of her daughters.
Celia Marsh passed away after consuming a 'vegan rainbow' flatbread
|HANDOUT
The family said she had searched carefully for a safe lunch option before choosing the vegan flatbread from Pret's Stall Street branch, believing the coconut yoghurt alternative it contained would pose no risk.
However, she fell ill within 15 minutes of eating and collapsed in the street.
Mrs Marsh administered an adrenaline shot using the EpiPen she always carried, but she died in hospital despite being rushed there by ambulance.
A 2022 inquest determined the contamination originated from a coconut yoghurt alternative produced by Planet Coconut and marketed as dairy-free.
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Both defendants had initially agreed to split liability on a 75/25 basis in Pret's favour
|GETTY
Senior coroner Maria Voisin wrote in her report: "A product which is marked 'dairy-free' should be free from dairy."
Investigations by Bath and North East Somerset Trading Standards traced the problem to an ingredient called HG1, which had become cross-contaminated with milk protein during manufacturing.
The coroner said Planet Coconut possessed documentation highlighting this contamination risk but failed to communicate the danger to its customers.
Following Mrs Marsh's death, the coroner issued a special "prevention of future deaths" report that called for significant changes to food safety monitoring.
The report recommended establishing a system to record severe allergic reactions, which would serve as an early warning mechanism for products containing undeclared allergens.
It also proposed implementing verification procedures to ensure items labelled as "free from" or "vegan" meet those standards.
These recommendations prompted the Food Standards Agency to revise its labelling guidance.
Family barrister Hannah Noyce told the court both defendants had initially agreed to split liability on a 75/25 basis in Pret's favour, but the café chain refused terms that would make all parties jointly and severally liable, instead insisting on specific sums being agreed.
A spokesman 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.”
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