Washington, D.C. native Joseph Lamour is a lover of food: its past, its present and the science behind it. With food, you can bring opposites together to form a truly marvelous combination, and he strives to take that sentiment to heart in all that he does.
Panera Bread is phasing out Charged Lemonade, NBC News reported. The controversial line of caffeinated drinks was at the center of past wrongful death lawsuits filed against the chain. The beverages initially raised eyebrows in late 2022, when influencer Sarah Baus posted a video on TikTok garnering millions of views describing her experience of unknowingly drinking “four or five” highly-caffeinated lemonades.
She told TODAY.com she “assumed it had a normal amount of caffeine.” According to Panera, its plant-based Charged Lemonade contain 155 to 302 milligrams of caffeine depending on the size and flavor. The FDA says 400 milligrams of caffeine a day is “an amount not generally associated with dangerous, negative effects,” meaning that one large Charged Lemonade comes close to the recommended daily limit. According to employees who spoke to NBC on condition of anonymity for fear of losing their jobs, the chain stopped placing orders for Charged Lemonade ingredients. Now, according to a Panera spokesperson, the chain is pivoting to lower-caffeine offerings. “We are excited to continue the success of our recent menu transformation, which began with our core options of sandwiches and salads,” Panera tells TODAY.com in response to the announcement. “We listened to more than 30,000 guests about what they wanted from Panera and are focusing next on the broad array of beverages we know our guests desire — ranging from exciting, on-trend flavors to low sugar and low-caffeine options.” Panera adds it’s rolling out an “enhanced beverage portfolio” which includes a new Blueberry Lavender Lemonade, Citrus Punch and others. In October 2023, parents of 21-year-old Sarah Katz filed a lawsuit against Panera alleging their daughter died as a result of consuming the Charged Lemonade. Katz, who was a University of Pennsylvania student, died in September 2022. The suit noted she had a preexisting heart condition. A judge denied Panera’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit. The FDA told TODAY.com in October that it was “gathering information” about Katz’s death after the filing. Later that month, Panera started displaying “enhanced” disclosures about the drink’s high amount of caffeine in-store and added a warning on its app. Still, a second lawsuit was filed in December 2023 by the family of Dennis Brown, a Florida man who also died after drinking a Charged Lemonade. The suit noted that Brown refrained from consuming energy drinks because he had high blood pressure. Then in January, 28-year-old Rhode Island resident Lauren Skerritt filed a third lawsuit against the chain, alleging the caffeinated lemonade caused her to develop “permanent cardiac injuries.” Representatives for Panera declined TODAY.com’s request for clarity on why the Charged Lemonade is being discontinued and when it would be removed from menus. While Baus was fine at the end of her TikTok-famous Charged Lemonade experience, her video did cause a lot of memes to pop up on social media. This included one prescient X user who wrote, “Somebody at panera gon end up getting sued.”
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