Woman with milk allergy dies after eating ‘vegan’ tiramisu

A woman with a severe dairy allergy died days after eating a tiramisu that was advertised as “vegan,” prompting an investigation into the dessert’s maker.

Anna Bellisario, who was 20 at the time of her death last year, was out to dinner with her boyfriend at a vegan burger chain called Flower Burger in Milan, Italy, on Jan. 26, 2023, when she ate a dish called “Tiramisun Mascherpa,” Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported.

Bellisario, who was a fashion student, reportedly checked the label on the tiramisu and asked for “more information” about the desert before consuming it.

After eating just a few spoonfuls, she started coughing and had trouble breathing. She attempted to make herself vomit and took asthma medication and cortisone she had with her, but she eventually lost consciousness after suffering from anaphylactic shock.

She was in a coma for 10 days at Milan’s San Raffaele Hospital before she died on Feb 5, 2023. She suffered from a dairy allergy since birth and had visited the restaurant before, the Mirror reported. 

A mother and a daughter who run the pastry company that supplied the pre-made tiramisu to Flower Burger and 63 other restaurants are now being investigated for manslaughter, according to Corriere della Sera.

The Post reached out to Flower Burger for comment.

Italian Insider identified the pastry company as just as Tiramisun when the outlet reported on the incident last year. 

After the incident, the Italian Ministry of Health ordered that the “vegan” tiramisu be recalled after it was suspected to contain milk.

Traces of milk and milk protein were found in tiramisu products from the Tirimisun brand and traces of egg were found in the mayonnaise of the sandwich Bellisario ordered for her entree, the Mirror reported. 

It’s thought that Tiramisun might have “mixed up” production lines for their vegan pastries with their desserts containing milk, according to Metro. 

Judge Fiammetta Modica called the incident “a worrying picture of unscrupulousness.”

The Post was unable to reach someone from Tiramisun for comment.