A 20-year-old woman with a severe dairy allergy died last February in Italy after eating a small amount of tiramisu advertised as vegan.
Now prosecutors are accusing the company that produces the dessert, called “Tiramisun,” of complicity in manslaughter.
They allege the life-ending dessert included mascarpone – an Italian cream cheese.
The newspaper Il Giorno reports that Giovanna Anoia and her son Giuseppe Loiero, bosses of the family business GLG srl, will be tried in Milan for the death of the woman Anna Bellisario.
Bellisario ordered the tiramisu, sold under the Mascherpa brand, during a meal at a Milan fast-food restaurant with her boyfriend on January 26, 2023, according to Il Messaggero, another Italian newspaper.
He reported, citing Bellisario’s boyfriend, that she asked for reassurance that it was free of allergens and asked to inspect the label before eating.
After two spoonfuls, she started coughing and rushed to the bathroom to make herself vomit, according to the report. When she couldn’t, she took cortisone and asthma medication, Il Messaggero said.
Bellisario then passed out and fell into a coma for 10 days, then died on February 5, 2023, according to the newspaper.
The Milan public prosecutor’s office indicted the company’s directors last week, following a January ruling by an investigating judge that banned them from doing business for a year, the newspaper said.
According to Il Messaggero, prosecutors accused the company of preparing vegan and non-vegan products in the same establishment “at the same time and on the same table.”
They also said workers lacked proper training, the newspaper reported.
Investigators found the dessert contained significant amounts of milk protein because mascarpone was used as an ingredient, according to Sky TG24 in Italy.
The outlet reported that investigators intercepted a phone call from Anoia, one of the bosses of GLG srl, who said they did not “think about people with allergies” when making products for vegans.
GLG srl did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Eating foods containing allergens can put the lives of allergy sufferers at risk due to anaphylaxis. It can also be costly for businesses.
Restaurants and manufacturers that fail to emphasize that foods contain allergens can face legal repercussions, as demonstrated in a lawsuit last month involving Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.
The widow of a doctor with nut and dairy allergies has sued the resort and the Raglan Road Irish Pub and Restaurant after the woman died after eating a meal containing both.
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