Amid recall and illness claims, Daily Harvest meal service enlists FDA help
Daily Harvest, a service offering home deliveries of vegan frozen food it claims is good for consumers and the environment, is grappling with allegations that one of its products sickened people.
The celebrity-backed company is “working with a group of experts to help us get to the bottom of this” after complaints from customers who said they had experienced stomach, liver and gallbladder issues after eating its French leek and lentil crumble, enlisting the Food and D+rug Administration, “microbiologists, toxin and pathogen experts, as well as allergists” to identify any problems, it said in a note to customers posted Wednesday on Instagram.
“All pathogen and toxicology results have come back negative so far, but we’re continuing to do extensive testing and will keep you updated,” the company wrote in the post.
The company said Sunday it had advised anyone who had purchased the product — a blend of lentils, butternut squash, quinoa, hemp seed and cremini mushrooms that was marketed as a crunchy plant-based topping — to dispose of it.
That move followed reports on social media from people who said they had eaten the crumble and then experienced a range of serious-sounding symptoms, including extreme nausea, cramping, fever, body itching and indications of liver problems. On Wednesday, Daily Harvest said in its Instagram post that it had been in touch with “customers who reported adverse reactions and is collecting data to further the investigation.”
A Daily Harvest representative did not respond to a query about how much of the product had been distributed, referring The Post to the language in the published statement. An email from an FDA spokesperson said the agency could neither confirm nor deny an investigation that isn’t listed in its public list of outbreaks (Daily Harvest is not named on it). “Depending on the seriousness of the problem, an FDA investigator may visit the person who made the complaint, collect product samples and initiate inspections,” the spokesperson wrote.
The company, which was founded in 2015, held itself out as a purveyor of sustainably harvested foods, attracting influencers and, reportedly, such celebrity investors as Serena Williams, Gwyneth Paltrow, Shaun White and Bobby Flay. “Daily Harvest is on a mission to make it really easy to eat more fruits + vegetables every day,” says the company’s website, which offers a variety of frozen bowls, smoothies and flatbreads. “From seed to plate, we’re committed to a better food system, one that prioritizes human and planetary health.”
Customers have complained the company was not being more forthright about potential problems.