Posted by Siya Patel.
On September 10, 2022, 21-year-old college student Sarah Katz bought and consumed Panera Bread’s Charged Lemonades, passing away later that day. The lawsuit filed by her parents says that “the company ‘failed to properly warn’ customers about the potential dangers of Charged Lemonade and misleadingly marketing the drink as ‘clean.’” Katz had a preexisting heart condition known as Long QT Type 1 Syndrome since the age of five. She took daily medication and avoided any energy drinks or highly caffeinated drinks in general. Her condition affects the electrical system that controls the person’s heartbeat. According to the medical examination report, the cause of death was arrhythmia caused by the Long QT Syndrome. The report had no mention of the Charged Lemonade.
About two months after the death, Charged Lemonade gained a lot of traction on social media, especially TikTok. Many users were shocked to learn about the caffeine content in the drink. The FDA advises that “most healthy adults can safely consume up to 400 milligrams of caffeine per day, or about four or five cups of regular coffee, depending on the brand and roast.” The large 30-ounce cup contains 390 milligrams, and the regular 20-ounce cup contains 260 milligrams of caffeine. The large serving “has more caffeine than a 12-ounce Red Bull and a 16-ounce Monster Energy Drink combined.” At the Panera location where Ms. Kantz bought the drink, the drink was “offered next to beverages that did not have caffeine or had less caffeine. It was not advertised as an energy drink. It was unclear how much of the drink Ms. Kantz consumed because she subscribed to Panera’s Unlimited Sip Club, which allows free refills at the self-serve station.
The complaint also mentions that the caffeine content could have potentially also been altered by the manner in which the drink was prepared. Panera workers mixed the drink at the restaurant itself which caused a lack of quality control. After drinking the lemonade, Ms. Katz went into cardiac arrest in a restaurant. She was taken to a hospital where she suffered a second cardiac arrest, ultimately leading to her death. On the Panera website, the lemonades are described as energy drinks, but they are also marked to contain clean caffeine. The actual caffeine content of each size is not listed.
Siya is a dual Diplomacy and Economics major at Seton Hall University, Class of 2026.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/24/us/panera-caffeine-charged-lemonade-death.html Links to an external site.