Couple accuses store, food firm for spoiled chocolate milk drink

A couple will file a damage suit against a convenience store chain and a multi-national food and beverage company after one of their chocolate drinks caused their two-year-old daughter to get ill.

Spouses Leonard and Leoniza Aqoque claimed their daughter vomited minutes after drinking a chocolate drink they bought from the store chain near a church in Cebu City last April 21.

In their complaint, Leonard said he observed that the chocolate drink was “unpleasant and had a sourly taste.” Their daughter was found to have suffered from acute gastroenteritis.

“Our daughter was so weak. She was almost lifeless,” the plaintiffs said. The couple lodged a complaint before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but they failed to reach an amicable settlement.

They decided to elevate the matter to the Regional Trial Court. The plaintiffs are seeking P500,000 in moral damages, P500,000 in exemplary damages, and P50,000 as attorney’s fees.

They said the store even tried to deceive FDA by submitting other samples of the chocolate drink but it was from another batch of delivery.

Cebu Daily News yesterday tried to contact both the companies whose office are in Metro Manila, but no one answered the calls. One of the company’s call center agents refused to answer queries regarding the case.

The plaintiffs said the defendants neither offered any compensatory amount to assuage their pain.

“(The convenience store chain) is remiss in its duty of properly storing and handling its product so that it is safe for public consumption,” said the plaintiffs who are assisted by lawyers Valeriano Loon, Habeas Corpuz, and Juril Patiño.