Anna Bellisario, a 21-year-old fashion design student with severe allergies to milk and eggs, was dining at a vegan restaurant in Milan with her boyfriend on January 26 last year.
For dessert, Ms Bellisario ordered a ready-made vegan tiramisu after she asked a restaurant staffer to show her the ingredient label. Although the label warned of the possible presence of nuts, it did not mention milk or eggs as you would expect from a vegan product.
After two spoonfuls, she began coughing, developed hives, and had difficulty breathing. She tried to force herself to vomit to no avail.
She took her asthma medication and antihistamines but did not have epinephrine on hand. She lost consciousness and died at San Raffaele Hospital on February 5 after suffering massive anaphylactic shock.
After her death, the Italian Health Ministry pulled several products marketed as vegan from store shelves that had a ‘suspected presence of allergens not declared on the label’. Many were from the GLG company, makers of the dessert responsible for the death of Bellisario.
Investigators found ‘critical issues’ with the company’s food safety and production procedures. Prosecutors stated that vegan and non-vegan foods had been prepared side by side with a high chance of cross-contact. One even stated that they had not considered food allergies when creating the vegan recipes.
Giovanna Anoia and Giuseppe Loiero, mother and son defendants of the GLG SRL family business, had originally been found guilty of manslaughter in the death and given a 12-month prison sentence, but their defense lawyer negotiated a deal that spared them jail time.
A judge in a Milan court also revoked a ban on the pair returning to business set by another judge at the request of prosecutors.
Instead, the pair were fined 10,000 euros ($10,830) and can resume making food products.
The defense lawyer stated the duo going forward would pledge to stick closely to health and safety regulations.
We at SnackSafely.com are outraged the pair was merely given a slap on the wrist and allowed to continue making and selling foods after so blatantly flouting manufacturing norms that resulted in a death. In essence, the Italian courts have set a price of 10,000 euros as the punishment for manslaughter.
Once again, we send our condolences to Bellisario’s family. We regret they must endure this slap in the face from the court while mourning the loss of Anna.
