After 2022 death of Jersey City woman, Rob Menendez wants more warnings on caffeinated products

When Sarah Katz, a Jersey City native and University of Pennsylvania student with a heart condition, died of cardiac arrest in 2022, it came as a shock to her family and friends. Katz had long been vigilant about what she ate due to her condition, but shortly before she died she had consumed a large cup of Panera Bread’s Charged Lemonade – a highly caffeinated drink that, Katz’s parents alleged in a lawsuit, didn’t warn customers about the large amounts of caffeine it contained.

Panera announced last year it was discontinuing its Charged Lemonade products, and a few months later reached a settlement with Katz’s family. Now, Katz’s hometown congressman is leading an effort to avert similar tragedies in the future.

Under legislation proposed by Rep. Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City), chain restaurants and food retailers would be required to clearly label highly caffeinated products as such, including the amount of caffeine in a serving. The bill, named the Sarah Katz Caffeine Safety Act, would also direct the federal government to conduct a study and safety review on caffeine consumption, and establish a public awareness campaign on the dangers of caffeine overconsumption.

“We all agree that if we take action, we can prevent deaths like this from happening in the future,” Menendez said at a press conference today. “It’s simple: we want every consumer to know what they’re drinking and what it does. These changes will ensure that everyone, no matter how old or how young, can walk into a store or order off a menu and know with confidence how much caffeine is in their drink. We believe this transparency will save lives.”

Menendez and his fellow Democrats will likely struggle to pass much of anything while Republicans control Washington, but the congressman said he’s nailing down a number of bipartisan co-sponsors “in the low teens” – among them fellow New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester), whom Menendez said would be the bill’s Republican co-lead.

And the mission of the bill, Menendez argued, isn’t so far off from what leading Republicans like President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have been preaching.

“I think it’s in line with the administration’s ‘Make America Healthy Again’ [agenda],” Menendez said. “So I think we really could see traction on this.”

“This is to allow people to make informed decisions,” he added. “It’s not taking drinks out of anyone’s hands – just making better, healthier decisions that each individual can make for themselves. And we think that’s something that’s in line with the priorities of this administration.”

Menendez has previously introduced the same bill late last year, but it came when the 118th Congress was already wrapping up its work and had little bandwidth for new bills; this is the first time Menendez is making a serious push for the legislation.

Katz’s death was not the only one tied to Panera’s lemonade; a few months after Katz’s parents filed their lawsuit against Panera, the family of another man, Dennis Brown, sued the food chain alleging that three cups of the lemonade had led to Brown’s death.

And as Menendez emphasized at his press conference today, the issue of cardiac arrest related to caffeine dates back long before Panera started putting the stimulant in its lemonade. Wendy Kline, whose daughter Anais died in 2011 shortly after drinking two energy drinks, spoke on the importance of Menendez’s bill today, as did a pediatric cardiologist and a heart health advocate.

“I have taken [Anais’s story] to TV, I’ve taken it to CNN, and I’ve taken it to the Senate floor,” Kline said. “I have helped Washington State, Connecticut, Maryland, South Carolina, and Illinois to pass state bills – and none of them have passed. I’m tired of hearing excuses from the FDA. I’m tired of the lobbyists in the American Beverage Association who are just trying to earn a paycheck. And our kids, our parents, our siblings are collateral damage.”

Michael Katz, Sarah Katz’s father, said that he hopes his daughter’s story ultimately serves to make the world safer for those who come after her.

“Her life was cut short – who knows how high she could have flown?” Katz said. “She did so much in the time that she was here, and had such an impact, and that’s part of what we want to continue doing again: saving lives and having an impact.”