The mother of a teen girl who died of a severe reaction to her peanut allergy after accidentally eating a cookie containing peanut butter is warning others to be vigilant about food packaging and labels. The family blames a folded-back cookie box wrapper for hiding the presence of the ingredient, leading to a “horrible mistake.” “Our hearts are broken and we are still in shock. Our whole lives [were] dedicated to keeping our child safe from one ingredient, peanuts,” Kellie Travers-Stafford, who lives in Weston, Florida, wrote on Facebook last week. Alexi Ryann Stafford, 15, was at a friend’s house on June 25 when she “made a fatal choice” and took a cookie from an open package of Chips Ahoy! Cookies that had a red wrapping and looked similar to the type of cookies her parents had deemed safe for her, her mother wrote. But the box, which had the top flap pulled back, actually contained a version of the cookies with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. “A small added indication on the pulled back flap on a familiar red package wasn’t enough to call out to her that there was ‘peanut product’ in the cookies before it was too late,” Travers-Stafford wrote. Alexi went home, but her condition deteriorated rapidly. She went into anaphylactic shock — a severe allergic reaction — and stopped breathing, her mother wrote. The family administered two EpiPens, to no avail. The girl died within an hour and a half of eating the cookie. She was laid to rest earlier this month. A fundraising page set up for funeral costs called Alexi “a kind, old soul” who was excited for the future ahead of her. The family did not immediately respond to a TODAY request for comment and requested privacy when NBC 6 South Florida reached out for an interview. But in her Facebook post, Alexi's mother called for more prominent food labels. “The company has different colored packaging to indicate chunky, chewy, or regular [cookies] but NO screaming warnings about such a fatal ingredient to many people. Especially children,” she wrote. “As a mother who diligently taught her the ropes of what was okay to ingest and what was not, I feel lost and angry because she knew her limits and was aware of familiar packaging, she knew what ‘safe’ was.” When people began commenting about the incident on the official Facebook page of Chips Ahoy! Cookies, which are made by Nabisco, the company responded that it takes allergies very seriously and noted that all of its products are clearly labeled on the information panel of the packaging for major food allergens, including peanuts. "We were very saddened to hear about this situation," Nabisco's parent company Mondelez International said in a statement. "We always encourage consumers to read the packaging labeling when purchasing and consuming any of our products for information about product ingredients, including presence of allergens." The company pointed out that the packaging for Chips Ahoy! made with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups “prominently indicates, on both the front and side panels, the presence of peanut butter cups through both words and visuals.” While packaging color for the cookies indicates their texture, such as chewy or chunky, it’s not indicative of the presence of allergens, it added. In response, several commenters called on the company to change package colors so that cookies with peanut products would stand out. About 8 percent of children have a food allergy, with peanuts the most prevalent allergen, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Almost 40 percent of food allergic children have a history of severe reactions. The incident is an important reminder for people with food allergies to be overly careful, Dr. Adriana Bonansea-Frances, a physician at the Florida Center For Allergy & Asthma Care, told NBC 6 South Florida. "If you are in a different house, you have to be more careful and always ask and always look at the labels," she said. Always read and reread ingredients on packages every time because it’s easy to make an error and brands may change ingredients, Allergic Living magazine noted. Follow A. Pawlowski on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.<doc-sep>A mom is calling for better packaging after her 15-year-old daughter died of anaphylactic shock from eating a peanut butter Chips Ahoy cookie A mom is calling on Chips Ahoy to fix their packaging after her 15-year-old daughter died of anaphylactic shock from unknowingly eating a peanut butter cookie. Kellie Travers-Stafford wrote on Facebook that her daughter, Alexi, was at a friend’s house on June 25 and grabbed a cookie out of an open Chips Ahoy package. Alexi had a severe peanut allergy, but believed that the cookies in red packaging were okay for her to eat. Get push notifications with news, features and more. “She ate one cookie of chewy Chips Ahoy thinking it was safe because of the ‘red’ packaging, only to find out too late that there was an added ingredient…. Reese peanut butter cups/chips,” Kellie wrote. alexi-stafford-1 Alexi Stafford | Credit: GoFundMe Alexi went straight home after feeling “tingling in her mouth,” Kellie said, but “her condition rapidly deteriorated.” Kellie said that they tried giving her two EpiPens while waiting for the paramedics, but Alexi went into anaphylactic shock, stopped breathing and went unconscious, dying “within one and a half hours of eating the cookie.” Now, Kellie wants Chips Ahoy to add more warning labels to their packaging, and to vary the colors. “As a mother who diligently taught her the ropes of what was okay to ingest and what was not, I feel lost and angry because she knew her limits and was aware of familiar packaging, she knew what ‘safe’ was,” Kellie wrote. “A small added indication on the pulled back flap on a familiar red package wasn’t enough to call out to her that there was ‘peanut product’ in the cookies before it was too late.” The packaging has the same red color and similar graphics to the regular chewy Chips Ahoy version, but it does have a Reese’s logo on all sides, and the words “peanut butter cups” along with a graphic of a mini peanut butter cup. It also lists peanuts in the ingredients list, and calls them out separately as an allergen warning. Chips Ahoy’s parent company, Mondelēz International, tells PEOPLE that they were “very saddened to hear about this situation,” adding that they learned of it after Kellie’s Facebook post spread on social media. “We take allergies very seriously and all of our products are clearly labeled on the information panel of the packaging for the major food allergens in the U.S. … Across our Chips Ahoy! portfolio, packaging color is a cue for product texture (i.e., Chewy, Chunky, Original) and is not indicative of the presence of allergens. On packaging for Chips Ahoy! made with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, branding and flavor are prominently depicted in both words and visuals on the front and side panels.” “We always encourage consumers to read the packaging labeling when purchasing and consuming any of our products for information about product ingredients, including presence of allergens.” Kellie said that she wants to warn others of the possible danger to allergy sufferers.<doc-sep>A 15-year-old girl died after eating a Chips Ahoy cookie that she had mistakenly thought was free of nuts. Alexi Ryann Stafford, of Weston, Florida, was at a friend's house when she saw an open package of the cookies. The top flap of the red package was pulled back and Alexi mistook the cookies for Chips Ahoy's 'Chewy' version, which is also red. But after finishing just one cookie, Alexi knew something was wrong. These 'Chewy' Chip's Ahoy cookies had been made with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups inside. Alexi Ryann Stafford, 15, died after eating a Chips Ahoy cookie that she had mistakenly thought was free of nuts Stafford, of Weston, Florida, was at a friend's house when she saw an open package of the cookies and mistook them for the brand's 'Chewy' version The teen's mouth began tingling and she immediately went home, where her condition rapidly deteriorated. 'She went into Anaphylactic shock, stopped breathing and went unconscious,' her mother, Kellie Travers-Stafford, wrote in a post on Facebook. 'We administered two EpiPens while she was conscious and waited on paramedics for what felt like an eternity.' Within 90 minutes of eating the cookie, Alexi was dead. Travers-Stafford said the family's hearts were broken and that they are 'still in shock'. 'Our whole lives we dedicated to keeping our child safe from one ingredient, peanuts,' she wrote. The top flap of the red package was pulled back and Alexi mistook the cookies for Chips Ahoy's 'Chewy' version, which is also red, and does not contain nuts But the cookies were actually 'Chewy' Chip's Ahoy cookies with added Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. And after eating one cookie, Alexi realized her mistake Alexi's mother Kellie Travers-Stafford wrote a heartbreaking post explaining her death 'As a mother who diligently taught her the ropes of what was okay to ingest and what was not, I feel lost and angry.' 'She knew her limits and was aware of familiar packaging, she knew what "safe" was.' Travers-Stafford believes it wasn't enough for the Chips Ahoy box to have a 'small added indication' on the familiar red package to point out that there were peanuts. 'The company has different colored packaging to indicate chunky, chewy, or regular, but NO screaming warnings about such a fatal ingredient to many people. Especially children,' she wrote. Travers-Stafford believes it wasn't enough for the Chips Ahoy box to have a 'small added indication' on the familiar red package to point out that there were peanuts Now the devastated mother is hoping to share Alexi's story to make sure a similar tragedy doesn't happen to another family 'It's important to us to spread awareness so that this horrible mistake doesn't happen again.' Travers-Stafford's post has been shared more than 500 times, and reached one writer who contacted Chips Ahoy and shared Alexi's story. The company said in a statement that it takes allergies 'very seriously' and that all products are 'clearly labeled on the information panel of the packaging'. 'Across our Chips Ahoy! product portfolio, packaging color is indicative of product texture and is not indicative of the presence of allergens,' the statement read. 'We always encourage consumers to read the packaging labeling when purchasing and consuming any of our products for information about product ingredients, including presence of allergens.'<doc-sep>
A 15-year-old girl with a severe peanut allergy died after accidentally eating Chips Ahoy! cookies that contained peanut butter. Alexi Ryann Stafford of Weston, Florida, mistook the red Chips Ahoy! packaging as safe to eat, but did not see the Reese's peanut butter sticker on it. Alexi went into anaphylactic shock and died within an hour and a half of eating the cookie. A Florida mom is warning about the importance of reading food packages after her teenage daughter died shortly after eating a cookie that contained peanut butter. Alexi Ryann Stafford, a 15-year-old with a severe peanut allergy, was at a friend’s house on June 25 when she “made a fatal choice” and ate a cookie from an open package of Chips Ahoy! Cookies. The package's red wrapping looked similar to the type of cookies her parents had told her were safe for her to eat, Alexi’s mom, Kellie Travers-Stafford wrote on Facebook. Kellie says that the cookie box wrapper was folded back and hid the fact that there were Reese’s peanut butter cups in the cookies. Alexi “started feeling tingling in her mouth and came straight home,” Kellie said. “Her condition rapidly deteriorated. She went into anaphylactic shock, stopped breathing, and went unconscious.” Kellie gave Alexi two EpiPens while she was still conscious and “waited on paramedics for what felt like an eternity,” but Alexi died within an hour and a half of eating the cookie. In case you’re not familiar with them, EpiPens contain epinephrine, a drug that works to counteract some allergic reactions, per the EpiPen website. Up to 20 percent of patients who receive an initial dose of epinephrine need a second dose because their allergic reaction is so severe, EpiPen says. But clearly, sometimes it’s not enough. “As a mother who diligently taught her the ropes of what was okay to ingest and what was not, I feel lost and angry because she knew her limits and was aware of familiar packaging, she knew what ‘safe’ was,” Kellie wrote. Kellie shared photos of the packaging of the cookies that killed her daughter, and pointed out that the mention of peanuts and peanut butter in the cookies is tiny, and that the packaging is nearly identical to that of cookies that didn’t contain the ingredient. In a statement to Today, Chips Ahoy! Cookies' parent company, Mondelez International, said, "We are very saddened to hear about this situation. We always encourage consumers to read the packaging labeling when purchasing and consuming any of our products for information about product ingredients, including presence of allergens." The company is now being called on to change the packaging colors so that cookies with peanut products stand out. “We want to spread awareness,” Kellie said. “The company has different colored packaging to indicate chunky, chewy, or regular but NO screaming warnings about such a fatal ingredient to many people. Especially children.” The family has set up a GoFundMe account to raise money for Alexi’s funeral costs.