Orla Baxendale, who had a peanut allergy, was with her fellow dancers when she took one bite of a cookie. She went into immediate anaphylactic shock and died.
A performer for one of the most prestigious dance companies in the nation has died at the age of 25 after taking a bite of a cookie she thought was peanut-free.
Orla Baxendale, who was raised in England, was pursuing her dream of dancing professionally at New York’s Lincoln Center and other leading theaters around the world.
Baxendale, who had a peanut allergy, was with her fellow dancers when she took one bite of a cookie. She went into immediate anaphylactic shock and died.
Attorney Marijo Adimey represents the dancer’s family.
“She was incredibly vigilant and hyperaware and hyperacute and sensitive of her peanut allergy. She would literally Google every single ingredient on every single package before she ate something,” Adimey tells Inside Edition.
The vanilla florentine cookie that Baxendale ate apparently did not list peanuts on the cookie’s packaging.
“There was nothing about peanut allergies, nothing even remotely close to peanut allergies. She took a bite of the cookie and within one minute or so, started going into anaphylactic shock,” Adimey says.
The attorney says the reaction was so severe, Baxendale's EpiPen could not save her.
The Connecticut Consumer Protection Agency released a photo of the cookie’s ingredients. Peanuts were not listed.
Stew Leonard, owner of the well-known grocery store in Connecticut where the cookie was sold, released a video statement.
“Unfortunately, the supplier changed the recipe and started going from soy nuts to peanuts, and our chief safety officer here at Stew Leonard’s was never notified,” Leonard said. “We take labels very seriously.”
However, the cookie company is taking issue with the claim.
“Stew Leonard’s was notified by Cookies United in July 2023 that this product now contains peanuts and all products shipped to them have been labeled accordingly,” Cookies United said in a statement.
The cookie company also provides an image of the new label and peanuts are clearly listed. They blame the grocery store for repackaging the cookies with an incorrect label.
The cookies have been pulled from store shelves.
