Daily Harvest is under fire in two lawsuits over a recalled product that is allegedly causing consumers to need their gallbladder removed.
Shortly after Daily Harvest announced a voluntary recall of one of its products, Lentil Crumbles, the direct-to-consumer brand was hit with two lawsuits over claims that consumers who ate the affected product “had their gallbladders removed after consuming it.”
Daily Harvest announced a voluntary recall earlier this month for its French Lentil and Leek Crumbles after receiving complaints of people falling ill after consuming them. The company typically relies on online influencers to market and promote its products. Some of those influencers claim that after eating the product, “they spent time in the hospital with mysterious symptoms that puzzled doctors, including intense gastrointestinal pain and extremely elevated liver enzymes.”
One of the lawsuits was filed by Luke Wesley Pearson, a Portland, Oregon content creator. He filed a personal injury complaint against the company and alleged he was “healthy and had no significant health problems prior to consuming the crumbles.” The suit states:
“After consuming the Daily Harvest Lentil Crumbles, plaintiff became violently ill, required hospitalization, and endured the surgical removal of his gallbladder.”
Additionally, the suit claims Daily Harvest failed to warn people about the dangers of eating the product and “issued vaguely worded and insufficient warnings to its customers and influencers.”
Carol Ann Ready, a Daily Harvest customer, filed the second lawsuit. According to her complaint, “she was hospitalized and had her gallbladder removed after consuming the crumbles.” She alleges she had to go to the ER twice in May after consuming the product on two separate occasions. Eventually, she was diagnosed with “liver and gallbladder dysfunction and doctors said the recommended course of action was to remove her gallbladder.” On June 24, she ended up having surgery to have her gallbladder removed.
When commenting on the complaints, Daily Harvest said:
“We have reached out multiple times directly to consumers who received the product, instructing them to dispose of it and not eat it. In parallel, we launched an investigation to identify the root cause, working closely with the FDA, multiple independent labs, and a group of experts that includes microbiologists, toxin and pathogen experts as well as allergists…All pathogen and toxicology results have come back negative so far, but we’re continuing to do extensive testing so we can get to the bottom of this. Everyone who has been affected deserves an answer, and we are committed to making this right.”
Rachel Drori, the CEO and Founder of Daily Harvest, added that the company is “working 24 hours a day, seven days a week to determine the root cause behind the health issues.” She also noted that the company is “cooperating with a probe from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration,” and said, “I recognize this is so frustrating. I am incredibly frustrated…We’ll continue to share more information as it becomes available. You can expect to hear from us as soon as we know more.”
Sources:
Daily Harvest hit with lawsuits after people who consumed its product reported becoming ill
Daily Harvest hit with lawsuit by woman who blames company for gallbladder removal
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