Panera now displaying warning about its caffeinated lemonade in all stores after lawsuit over customer's death
Panera now displaying warning about its caffeinated lemonade in all stores after lawsuit over customer's death
Sarah Katz, 21, had a heart condition and died hours after she drank Panera’s Charged Lemonade, a large cup of which contains more caffeine than Red Bull and Monster energy drinks combined.
Sarah Katz, 21, had a heart condition and died hours after she drank Panera’s Charged Lemonade, a large cup of which contains more caffeine than Red Bull and Monster energy drinks combined.
All Panera Bread restaurants are now displaying "enhanced" disclosures about the restaurant chain’s highly caffeinated lemonade, a spokesperson said Saturday, following a lawsuit that was filed by the family of a young woman who died after drinking the beverage.
Monday's lawsuit, which was first obtained by NBC News, alleges that Sarah Katz, an Ivy League student with a heart condition, died after she drank Panera’s Charged Lemonade last year.
A large Charged Lemonade contains 390 milligrams — nearly the 400-milligram daily maximum of caffeine that the Food and Drug Administration says healthy adults can safely consume.
Why on earth would they have that much caffeine for a lemonade at Panera?
This is from their website
The NEW Panera Charged Lemonades are the ultimate energy drink guaranteed to charge up your day. Powered by Clean caffeine from guarana and green coffee extract, these caffeinated lemonades feature refreshing mango, cranberry, or strawberry mint flavors. These drinks are cold, caffeinated, and so ready for summer. Plant-based and Clean with as much caffeine as our Dark Roast coffee.
So sounds like they are advertising it as a coffee or energy drink alternative
Merica!
wait wait a lady fucking died and they're getting away with simply enhanced signs??
Well the FDA says the caffeine content is safe for an adult.
The FDA also says brominated vegetable oil is safe for human consumption
Putting up the sign now probably hurts them in a civil suit.
Model (USA) Rule of Evidence 407: Subsequent remedial measures are not admissible as evidence to prove negligence, culpable conduct, a defect in a product or its design, or a need for a warning or instruction.
But the court may admit this evidence for another purpose, such as impeachment or — if disputed — proving ownership, control, or the feasibility of precautionary measures
EDIT: I’m not looking up the contextualing comments that accompany the rule, but I will share what I remember from law school many years ago: this rule exists for public safety. You don’t want to penalize fixing a dangerous situation, regardless of the facts of any specific case.
But it does alleviate them from a second suit.
Maybe they’d like for people to not be harmed by their lemonade for the sake of not hurting people, more than money. That’s a lot to believe about a corporation though.
Maybe they genuinely don't want anyone else to die
Well this is like, how you do not eat things you are allergic too.
Why not just call it lemonade coffee or lemonade energy drink? Lemonade is not suppose to have caffeine.
"Charged" is definitely not enough.
Could be charged with anything, like fruit flavor, extra sugar, suggested max daily doses of caffeine for healthy individuals, ya know, anything.
Boosted lol
Whatever it is called with that kind of caffeine content you warning label it with listing of exactly how much caffeine it has. Well maybe unless it is named literally "coffee" and is plain brewed coffee and at that brewed coffee with the normal levels of caffeine coffee contains.
Ones frappe, whippazino also better have needed labels in cases, since given all they mix how the heck one is to know what exactly is the contents. Oh this is extra special "angry frappe" with double squared shot expresso, so exactly how much caffeine is that dear seller per one glass? I just thought you put chili in it or something to make it "angry", but has literally multiple times more caffeine content.
This is why all the energy drinks atleast where I live have the ever present "contains high amount of caffeine x mg/100ml".
You sell something like that as counter served item with no packaging label to read, well now your menu list must contains at minimum highlights. Something like "our special drunk (HC)" and then somewhere on the menu there reads "HC means high in caffeine". Then obviously at the counter must be a full labeling booklet of "here is our every product from the plainest brewed coffee to our jumbo mega sandwich and special brew beverage with full nutritional information and ingredients"
Just like one can't sell say a pastry in cafe with nut creme filling with out having a big marker on all the menus "contains nuts, nut allergies bevare". Since similarly nut allergic consuming nuts can be life threatening, well for some people consuming caffeine isn't healthy and must be disclosed.
Whatever it is called with that kind of caffeine content you warning label it with listing of exactly how much caffeine it has.
They have always had signage directly on the dispenser with the caffeine content.
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It's not coffee.
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"Energy" drinks don't give you much energy.
I don't think you should be picking the names for things.
Let me try: "Caffeinated lemonade"
Wow.
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This is a product made by Panera Bread? Lol I would not expect the store brand lemonade to be jacked on caffeine.
Probably some executive's nephew or something invented it. Absolutely a stupid idea.
Nah caffeine is flavorless and addictive. You mix it in with water and a patented combination of flavors and corn syrup, and the customers just keep coming back for it.
Selling an exclusive and addictive product is a good way to gain repeat customers.
Hell serious caffeine addicts will see this headline and plan to head to Panera at some point this week to check it out. No different than when heroin gets cut with fentanyl. Maybe somebody dies, but more junkies just want to chase that high.
That was my exact same thought. Like, I had no idea they had a caffeinated lemonade, let alone a lemonade that was a beverage version of an energy pill they sell behind the counter at the gas station.
They call it charged lemonade and they advertised it as being all natural and healthy too. Despite having more caffeine than their coffee or monster/red bull
It's the same as their coffee. Same as the dark roast, anyway, and less caffeine per ounce than the light roast.
I feel like every beverage containing caffeine should have its total content labeled.
Not because I'm sensitive or anything, I just need the biggest dose I can find in the morning.
Then again, I've been addicted to caffeine since child hood. I quit once, it was thought to be disturbing my sleep; NOPE! Just bipolar mania fucking it up.
If anyone is concerned, I'm on meds and doing well - I still might stab someone in the morning over getting in the way of caffeine though.
Their labeling clearly stated the amount of caffeine per 20 and 30 oz cups. Image: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2023/10/24/paneras-caffeinated-charged-lemonade-blamed-for-college-students-death-in-lawsuit/amp/
I had no opinion until I read this thread.
I'm a person that suffers from addiction to food, for lack of better phrasing. As in, I am currently going to therapy and a nutricionist and have won this battle a few times before.
I usually think sugar laws are BS, but taxes are a way of making things more "balanced without bans".
850 ml of somethig should not have 14% of its weight come from sugar. That's insane. No serving of something should contain 124 grams of sugar, except ... sugar. You're basically eating a quarter pounder made of sugar when you're drinking this. Like, eating an eighth of a 1kg bag of sugar is basically the same thing as drinking this. Holy fuck.
I like coffee, caffeinated drinks, etc etc. I like science and technology and bizarre nutrition (protein powders, BCAAs, etc). I didn't know what the "safe adult limit" of caffeine was, except that you'd have to drink several cups of coffee extremely quickly. There have been days , especially at uni where I'd drink 3 large energy drinks, and feel my heart react to it and think "yeah, that's enough".
The "warning" on the drink is completely contextless and ignoreable. "Oh ok, it's got caffeine in it, 389mg, wild". No wonder the woman just grabbed it and went on with her day and died.
Also, it's a complete waste of advertising potential. If a drink advertises "ALMOST LETHAL AMOUNTS OF CAFFEINE!" you might want to drink it more for that reason, "Charged lemonade" makes it sounds like it's got a hint of lime in it as well as lemons.
Sounds like you were given too much stimulation as a child and now anything less makes you uncomfortable.
To be fair, Panera has always labeled the caffeine content of its drinks. Problem is that people don't read the god damn label on the machine, forcing Panera to make it bigger and more obvious.
Ironically, this new warning is a lot smaller than the label, and less visible. It's just CYA protections from a company it seems that for the first time in a long time, didn't actually fuck up.
My kids went and filled their cups with this stuff before I noticed what it was and then had to be the bad guy, telling them to get the Minute Maid shite. Definitely lowered my opinion of Panera.
Is the stuff just in the soda fountain?
Separate dispensers like they said, but if you're paying the meal and you tell the kids to go get their drinks and they want lemonade you have to watch out they don't get the heart attack shit. Once you know you know, but I couldn't believe that's a thing that exists.
I'm shocked it took this long. The caffeine content in that shit is MIND BLOWING. When you buy a energy drink you know what you are signing up for. But a lemonade with 260 to 390mg of caffeine??? That's pushing the limit of a
healthysafe daily dose for an average adultWhy the fuck would lemonade of all things have caffeine anyway?
Because it's called 'Charged Lemonade'.
Charged, like the thing that you do to your phone to put energy into it.
Mike's hard lemonade exists... Has alcohol in it.
Because someone made it and people buy it?
Why shouldn't lemonade have caffeine? Because you think it shouldn't? Lol.
That's about the same as a large coffee, but nobody blinks an eye at that. https://www.cspinet.org/caffeine-chart
Ain't Nothin healthy about that lol
Lol. Fixed now.
It's more than a litre of red bull in one drink.
Wild lemonade leaves woman very excited lol 😆
What is going to come from this is Panera settles, and then sticks the charged lemonade behind the counter and enhances warning labels.
What may indirectly come from this is Solid Numbers on Caffeine overdose. and what is a safe amount and what is playing with fire.
It's a modern day created problem. energy drinks flood the market, other companies compete and boom, someone died. I've seen reports that she had some medical issues and caffeine was like her version of a bee sting or peanut allergy , but I've yet to corroborate that narrative.
Yes, prior reporting covered that she had a heart condition and she was extremely aware that too much caffeine would kill her. The lemonade was clearly labeled with its caffeine content. It didn't say it was extreme, but it was clearly labeled with how much is in it. The story that "she didn't know" doesn't add up unless she was just being wildly negligent.
Article with image of the labeling: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2023/10/24/paneras-caffeinated-charged-lemonade-blamed-for-college-students-death-in-lawsuit/amp/
As someone with a food allergy, I check everything I eat for my allergens. If I'm not sure what's in it, I don't eat it. And all that will happen to me is I'll feel ill for a while. Anyone with a lethal condition damn well knows better.
Funny. We've actually been doing the same thing with salt and sugar for decades.
But overconsuming those doesn't usually result in an immediate death. Just diabetes and stroke.
I figured it had more caffeine than tea but less than coffee. Clearly very wrong. Glad I didn't drink this stuff while I was pregnant.
Is this lawsuit gonna drive the price of sandwiches from $15 to $30? /s
They'll just make their bread even more stale and give you even smaller sandwiches for the exorbitant price.
Now the sales for that drink is going to go up, due to human curiosity.
Fuck me....
I was just thinking I wanted to try some Charged Lemonade.
400 mg a day?
Apparently I should be dead.
Most 8 ounce cups of coffee contain 80 to 100 milligrams of caffeine. A large coffee from Tim Hortons is 20 ounces which has roughly 250mg of caffeine. And I used to drink 2, sometimes 3 or 4, of those a day.
I'll likely be dead by next Tuesday. I sure could go for a coffee right now though.
Edit: For those that want to plan accordingly, a 20 ounce blonde roast from Starbucks has 475mg of caffeine. The dark roast had about 340mg.
Well, the body changes over time. I used to drink a ton of coffee back in my 20-30s. Something happened in my 40s. I became very sensitive to caffeine and I couldn’t handle anything more than a cup. Now I can’t drink it on the regular as it will keep me awake at night. I miss it very much, so every now and then I’ll have a cup, but only if I know I have the next day off.
Same boat. I easily drink a pot a day. Been thinking I should try and cut back, but maybe this is the push I need.
Who'd have thought a place that can't even make a bagel with cream cheese properly would be the one to turbo-charge the lemonade.
Seriously, once I decided to get one and they gave me an uncut bagel and little shitty single-serve cream cheese. Even I asked wtf and said I wanted it done they looked at me as if I were from friggin outer space.
I don't think the two are related, at all.
I'd like to point out the irony that these enhanced warnings are a tiny sign that will easily be missed if you ignore the MASSIVE signage and marketing that remind the consumer that the beverages are caffeinated.
The silly part is that "see, it's a WAaaaarrrrning" might hold more protective weight in court than "HEY LOOK WE GOT A FUCKTON OF CAFFEINE" billboards.
(not so) fun fact: they put it where they normally place non caffeinated drinks
200mg of caffeine makes me feel ill. 390mg in a lemonade is insane. wtf
I wonder how the doctors knew that she had this lemonade and pinned it as the sole cause of her death vs anything else that could have caused it or as a combination of things since she had a condition already - the legal discussion of this in the lawsuit could be very relevant for panera
She knew she had the condition and avoided high caffeine drinks.
She did not know about the caffeine content, 390mg in the large lemonade, due to poor labeling by Panera. This one drink is 10mg less than the maximum daily dose for HEALTHY person according to the FDA.
Given the lack of consuming any other caffeine products regularly due to her knowing about their impact on her heart, it is not a leap to say the lemonade was the culprit.
Further, the lawsuit alleges harm, even if not the sole cause of death, from their product due to not making it clear to the buyer that contents has so much caffeine.
According to coffeechemistry.com, one liquid ounce of espresso can have anywhere between 30 and 50mg of caffeine. That means that a double shot will likely have anywhere between 60 and 100mg.
She bought a lemonade, without caffeine labeling, that contained 8 shots of espresso in caffeine. Cause of death or not, the legal culpability and reasonable expectation that this would not be in its contents is clear as day.
This will never go to trial.
I know nothing about this lawsuit but if she ordered this from a delivery app then there would be zero indication during purchasing that it is caffeinated
due to poor labeling by Panera
Having seen the labeling, I would say it's the opposite of poor. They're far more focused on the caffeine in this lemonade than I would have expected on first reading the story.
Either signage was missing, or she did the food equivalent of driving the wrong way up a one-way because she was texting.
I fuckin bet they are.
These are the sorts of stories and warning labels that make people want to buy it more.
Haha i didnt know the charged lemonade was a thing before today. I was tired when i originally read this in the morning and immediatelly ordered it.
It’s very unfortunate what happened to this girl. I don’t understand though how having a serious heart condition, she didn’t read the sign that said “as much caffeine as coffee” or “guarana and green coffee”. I have a few food related conditions and I read or research absolutely everything I consume at a restaurant.
Hmm... I need to go get some lemonade from panera...
Sounds good
So, that is a ton of caffeine, but if you have a heart condition you really should be more careful about that shit.
I get what you're saying, but, for me, it would never even cross my mind that lemonade would ever have caffeine in it to start, let alone an insane amount like Panera has.
I mean, it does help to read the sign when you're getting your drink. The caffeine content is fairly clearly indicated.
When was the last time you had fuckin caffeinated lemonade? How do you be careful about it when you ordered a thing that doesn't have caffeine literally anywhere else on earth?
