My worst nightmare as a mom of a child allergic to peanuts.

Yes, this article gives me chills and reminds me of a time my then 7 year old daughter ate a cookie that contained peanuts.  We were told it was a sugar cookie.  It only took seconds for her to go into anaphylactic shock.  Now we never buy anything unless there is a label and even then it's hard to trust the label.

Submitted by Peanut Allergy on Jun 12, 2012

A young woman nearly died after suffering a severe allergic reaction to a cake that promised to be peanut-free. Preethi Koshy, a 22 year old who has been diagnosed with a serious peanut allergy, spent three days in the ICU after eating just a single bite of a cake her mother had purchased for her.

Her mother asked the vender at the food festival where the cake was sold whether it contained peanuts. The vender insisted it was peanut-free, though a later investigation revealed that the cake actually contained a high quantity of peanuts – some bites may have been more than 50% peanut.

As soon as she took a bite, says Koshy, she knew it contained nuts. “I knew it was really serious. I could feel my throat swelling up and my breathing stopping” she explained to the Daily Mail, adding “I know I am lucky to be alive. The doctors said if I had gone two minutes longer without treatment, I probably wouldn't have survived.”

The company that sold the treat has now been fined £7,500 ($11,500) because it lied to Koshy's mother about the ingredients in the cake.

Reflecting on the amount of the fine, Koshy complained “The fine does not hit home hard enough and doesn't reflect how close I was to losing my life. They passively told my mum there were no peanuts in it, without thinking how serious the outcome could have been.”