Panera Bread says it will drop Charged Lemonade from menus following wrongful death lawsuits

Panera Bread announced on Tuesday that it is phasing out its controversial "Charged Lemonades," which are heavily caffeinated and have been blamed in two wrongful death lawsuits.

The beverage had been marketed as “plant-based and clean with as much caffeine as our Dark Roast coffee," but prosecutors in the lawsuits claim it actually contains more caffeine than the coffee, with a large 30oz charged lemonade containing 390mg of caffeine. Healthy adults can consume as much as 400mg of caffeine a day safely, NBC News reported.

“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,” a Panera spokesperson told the outlet.

The two main lawsuits center around 21-year-old Sarah Katz who died after drinking the caffeinated beverage, and Floridian Dennis Brown. The Pennsylvania college student had a pre-existing heart condition, but a friend of Katz claimed she probably did not know there was caffeine in the lemonade.

“She was very, very vigilant about what she needed to do to keep herself safe,” Victoria Rose Conroy told NBC News in October. “I guarantee if Sarah had known how much caffeine this was, she never would have touched it with a 10-foot pole.”

Brown had a chromosomal deficiency disorder and a developmental delay.

A third person has filed a lawsuit against Panera after she claimed the lemonade left her with "permanent cardiac injuries."

The company has since added more information to a disclosure on the Charged Lemonades, stating it is not recommended for children, people sensitive to caffeine, or pregnant or nursing women. 

Panera previously stood by its product, claiming its own investigation into Brown's death revealed that the beverage was not the cause, but expressed sympathy for Brown. 

"We view this lawsuit, which was filed by the same law firm as the previous claim, to be equally without merit," Panera told Nexstar News in a statement last December. "Panera stands firmly by the safety of our products.”