Panera Bread was sued by the parents of a 21-year-old student who died after drinking lemonade with high caffeine content.
University of Pennsylvania student Sarah Katz suffered a cardiac arrest in September 2022 after drinking a “Charged Lemonade” made by Panera Bread.
The wrongful death lawsuit was filed in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas on Monday.
According to court documents obtained by NBC News, Panera Bread’s Charged Lemonade contains more caffeine than three cans of Red Bull.
Katz, who had a congenital heart condition, avoided energy drinks per her doctor’s order.
On Sept. 10, 2022, Katz purchased a large Charged Lemonade which contained 390 milligrams of caffeine — more than three times the amount of caffeine in a 12-ounce can of Red Bull.
According to the American Heart Association, the maximum daily intake of caffeine for an adult is 400 milligrams or 4 cups of coffee.
“I guarantee if Sarah had known how much caffeine this was, she never would have touched it with a 10-foot pole,” Katz’s roommate Victoria Rose Conroy told NBC News.
In a statement on Monday, Oct. 23, a Panera spokesperson said: “At Panera, we strongly believe in transparency around our ingredients. We will work quickly to thoroughly investigate this matter.”
Last December, a TikTok user went viral after she shared the nutritional facts of Panera’s Charged Lemonade. She captioned the video: “[T]his drink should come with a warning because it’s delicious and will lead to my cardiac arrest.”
@sarahebaus @Panera Bread this drink should come with a warning because it’s delicious and will lead to my cardiac arrest #panerabread #mangoyuzucitrus #remotework ? original sound – sarahebaus
