The issue of food labeling and food labeling laws have been in the news in recent months. A recently filed case from Virginia illustrates the importance of labeling food properly. The case has been filed in Circuit Court in Newport News, Virginia, and involves a woman who has a known allergic reaction to peanuts. She purchased a cookie at a deli that was not labeled in a manner that put her on notice that it contained peanuts. She was also, apparently, not able to determine visually whether the cookie contained peanuts or peanut products. The woman was pregnant at the time she ate the cookie, went into anaphylactic shock, and subsequently gave birth to a baby with birth defects. The baby died at 12 weeks of age. The lawsuit is against the deli that sold the cookie and the company that made the cookie for $20 million in damages.