“It’s a sad day for us,” he said, noting that the company had bought the cookies “from an outside supplier and unfortunately the supplier changed the recipe and started going from soy nuts to peanuts and our chief safety officer here at Stew Leonard’s was never notified.” 

“We have a very rigorous process that we use as far as labeling. We take labels very seriously, especially peanuts,” Leonard added. “And our chief safety officer never was notified, we didn’t change the label, hence we sold about 500 packages of these cookies over the holiday.” 

But the Islip, New York-based Cookies United says they did inform Stew Leonard’s about the ingredient change. 

“It has come to the attention of Cookies United that a customer of Stew Leonard’s has tragically died as a result of eating cookies containing peanuts. Our hearts and condolences are first with the family of this Stew Leonard’s customer,” the company’s attorney, Walker Flanary III, said in a statement.  

“Unfortunately, considering the tragedy of these circumstances, we need to point out that Stew Leonard’s was notified by Cookies United in July of 2023 that this product now contains peanuts and all products shipped to them have been labeled accordingly,” he continued. “This product is sold under the Stew Leonard’s brand and repackaged at their facilities.  The incorrect label was created by, and applied to, their product by Stew Leonard’s.” 

The atmosphere during a Stew Leonard’s opening in September 2019 in Paramus, New Jersey. (Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for Stew Leonard’s / Getty Images)

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When asked by FOX Business on Thursday to respond to the claim that Cookie United informed them of the ingredient change, a Stew Leonard’s spokesperson declined to comment further.