Family Files Lawsuit After Son Dies From Reaction to Quorn
Statement of CSPI Executive Director Michael F. Jacobson
March 25, 2015
It is regrettable and sad that the family of young Miles Bengco and his family apparently had to suffer because of the failure of the Food and Drug Administration to stop the sale of the vat-grown soil fungus known as mycoprotein, the main ingredient in Quorn meat substitutes. And how shameful of Marlow Foods to market this deceptively labeled product with no warning whatsoever considering that for more than a decade Quorn has been known to cause severe adverse reactions. And how crass of the company to deflect responsibility for their negligence by casting blame on Miles' grieving parents.
It appears that Miles was not the only fatality attributable to Quorn. A second death, that of a 16-year-old girl in Sweden, may well have been caused by Quorn. CSPI has received more than 2,000 adverse reaction reports at QuornComplaints.org of reactions ranging in severity from hives or nausea to projectile vomiting, diarrhea, and gastrointestinal distress to difficulty breathing and life-threatening anaphylaxis.
The FDA needs to pull this dangerous meat substitute off of grocers' shelves to prevent this innocently labeled product from causing more deaths.
