Panera pulls their Charged caffeinated drinks from their stores

[thewayne]

This is after two people have died and they have two wrongful death lawsuits they are defending against.

The Charged Lemonade, in the 30 ounce size, contains 389 mg of caffeine. Initially the drinks were offered as self-serve with unlimited refills.

To compare against other sources of caffeine, "A standard 8-ounce cup of coffee generally contains between 80 to 100 mg of caffeine, while a Red Bull energy drink also contains 80 mg." The FDA recommends no more than 400 mg of caffeine a day.

Interestingly, just a week or so ago, I picked up a Starbucks bottled Frappuccino to see how much caffeine was in it. The label doesn't say....

From the article: "In September 2022, Sarah Katz, a 21-year-old with a heart condition, died after allegedly drinking one of the highly caffeinated lemonades from a restaurant in Philadelphia. In a wrongful death lawsuit filed against Panera in October 2023, Katz's parents alleged that she didn't know the drink contained potentially dangerous amounts of caffeine. Rather, she was "reasonably confident it was a traditional lemonade and/or electrolyte sports drink containing a reasonable amount of caffeine safe for her to drink," the lawsuit stated.

Also in October, Dennis Brown, a 46-year-old man in Florida, went into cardiac arrest while walking home from a Panera, where he allegedly drank a charged lemonade and then had two refills. His family filed a lawsuit against Panera in December.

According to CNN, a third lawsuit was filed in January by a woman who claims she developed an irregularly fast heartbeat and palpitations after drinking the two-and-a-half caffeinated lemonades in April 2023. "The primary reason she ordered this drink was because it was advertised as ‘plant-based’ and ‘clean,’" the complaint states."

I remember the death of Sarah Katz, I didn't hear about the other two incidents. And there may have been others.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/05/amid-two-wrongful-death-lawsuits-panera-to-pull-the-plug-on-charged-drinks/

Comments

[kaishin108]

I would never suspect that lemonade would be in a drink from there. It is about time they let it go.

[thewayne]

You mean caffeine?   Of course, maybe it's more caffeine than lemonade!

[kaishin108]

Yes, yes a dyslexic typo! :D
It sounds awful.

[thewayne]

I can't imagine what that drink would taste like with that amount of caffeine in it!  I can barely stand the taste of Red Bull, it's been ages since I've had one of those.

[kaishin108]

I haven't even tasted a Red Bull as I react so crazy these days to caffeine. I don't know how people can stomach that lemonade or other drinks like that.

[disneydream06]

I have mixed feelings about this.
If you know the purpose of the Charged Lemonade is the caffeine, then how do you blame the business? :o
Hugs, Jon

[thewayne]

This is quite a valid point.  Though I think when you're dealing with a lemonade drink, which has a generally innocent connotation, you're not expecting something with 4-5 times the amount of caffeine that a cup of coffee or a Red Bull would get you.  I think those drinks have far more caffeine than they should, but most people don't treat that drug as being potentially dangerous.

[disneydream06]

This kind of makes me laugh on another note.
This week is National Nurses Week, and at work they are giving the nurses a different "treat" each day.
And what was the treat for Tuesday? CAFFEINE.
Seriously?
They gave them free energy drinks or whatever you wanna call them.
Apparently they did also offer non caffeinated drinks as well, but why is a hospital promoting a drug?
I can hardly wait to see what they offer the aides for our week. :o

[silveradept]

That much caffeine in those drinks feels a lot more like someone knew they were in potentially dangerous amounts and decided to market them anyway, possibly leaning hard into that dangerous nature. I don't really understand why anyone would want to market that kind of thing, and who, other than thrill-seekers, would want to drink it.