NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – A Brooklyn mother says her 3-year-old son suffered a severe allergic reaction after eating what was supposed to be Carvel's new nondairy soft serve ice cream last week.
Saira Weitz, of Sunset Park, said for months her son Jesse kept asking to get ice cream from the Carvel not far from their home, but because of a severe allergy it'd have to be nondairy, which Carvel started offering this year using oat milk.
Her husband took Jesse to the Carvel on Fifth Avenue near their home, insisting it had to be dairy free because of his allergies. But within minutes of having just one bite of what was supposed to be nondairy soft serve, her son went into anaphylactic shock, suffering severe vomiting and hives before he was rushed to the emergency room.
"I said Jesse, 'Tell me what's going on.' He's like, 'Mom I need to throw up.' So he profusely started vomiting," Weitz said. "And, again, he only had less than a spoonful of this ice cream. So my husband rushes over, he gets the EpiPen."
"The ER is right down the block," she said, "so we rushed him over there, and they gave him a couple of other medications to stabilize him."
After a scary weekend, Jesse's doing better. And Weitz is demanding answers. She was told by the local shop that they get all their tubs of ice cream from corporate. She's now awaiting a response from the store's corporate parent.
"Legal action—getting in trouble—makes someone pay attention," Weitz said. "Even if it makes the smaller businesses then say, 'Wait a minute, I saw this happen and I don't want that to happen in my store.'"
1010 WINS has reached out to both the local Carvel and their corporate parent for comment.
Weitz said it's important to raise awareness about the life-threatening risk of food allergies.
"What I really want to come out of this is to raise awareness that this isn't just someone having a little tummy trouble, like this is someone's life," she said. "And if it was your son, if it was your grandson, if it was your brother—I think it would hit differently."