Colorado man sues Walmart, says take-and-bake bread led to hospitalization

A Colorado Springs man says a Marketside take-and-bake loaf bought at Walmart was mislabeled on the shelf, then left him hospitalized for about three days after he ate it.

Jordan Douglas filed the lawsuit in El Paso County District Court on Feb. 3, 2026, naming Walmart Inc. and Anthony & Sons Italian Bakery, Inc. as defendants. The complaint says Douglas, who lives in El Paso County, Colorado, bought the bread on Sept. 22, 2025, at the Walmart store at 1575 Space Center Drive in Colorado Springs.

Court documents describe the product as a Marketside-branded “Take & Bake” loaf. Douglas claims a Walmart-applied “sell by” label covered the bread’s preparation instructions, making it look substantially baked and hard to distinguish from ready-to-eat bread. He says he ate it the next day, Sept. 23, 2025, and later developed severe abdominal pain.

The complaint says Douglas was admitted to UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central for emergency treatment. It alleges diagnostic imaging showed a gastrointestinal obstruction caused by uncooked dough expanding after ingestion. The filing says he experienced repeated vomiting, had an invasive nasogastric tube placed, and was kept on bowel rest during his roughly three-day hospitalization.

The case shines a light on a retail problem that sits between merchandising and food safety: how clearly a store communicates whether a bakery item is meant to be baked at home before it is eaten. Walmart’s own website lists Marketside “Bake at Home” breads, including an Italian loaf that instructs customers to bake it for six to eight minutes. That kind of packaging only works if the preparation directions remain visible on the shelf and on the package itself.

For store teams, the allegation raises a practical question that reaches beyond one loaf in one Colorado Springs aisle. Date labels, promotional stickers, and markdown tags can create confusion if they cover cooking instructions on par-baked bread. For shoppers, the takeaway is just as direct: a Marketside loaf marked “Take & Bake” is not a finished bread product, and the label needs to be checked before it goes in a cart or onto a plate.

The complaint says Anthony & Sons Italian Bakery manufactures and supplies partially baked bread products sold through Walmart stores in Colorado. In this case, the difference between a bakery item that needs heat and one that is ready to eat is not a small detail. It is the line between routine grocery shopping and an emergency room visit.