Daily Harvest Blames Tara Flour for Making Hundreds Sick
A flour made from the tara tree appears to be behind the meal delivery service's food poisoning outbreak in June.
Daily Harvest's French Lentil and Leek Crumbles allegedly caused hundreds of customers to get sick last month.
Daily Harvest believes it has found the cause of a recent widespread food poisoning at the hand of its French Lentil and Leek Crumbles. The plant-based meal delivery services made headlines in June when as many as 470 customers reported serious illnesses after eating the food and, in a statement, has identified tara flour as the source of the problem.
CEO Rachel Drori sent an email to CNET (and presumably all Daily Harvest customers) on Tuesday in which she says the brand has identified tara flour, a high-protein, low-carb flour made from the tara tree, as the ingredient responsible for making at least 470 people sick. Drori says all testing has indicated the issue is isolated to that one product.
The message was simultaneously posted on the brand's Instagram account. Part of it reads:
"At this time, we have identified tara flour as the cause of the issue. Our extensive investigation has involved many experts analyzing data from all sources. We have only used this ingredient in French Lentil + Leek Crumbles and we are no longer sourcing from this producer who does not provide any ingredients for our 140+ other items.
"This was the first and only time we've used tara flour, which has been available and used in the North American market as a plant-based source of protein prior to our use. Our investigation team will continue working with the FDA, the tara flour producer and others to help determine what specifically made people sick."
Daily Harvest told CNET in an email that it would not disclose where it was sourcing tara flour from at this time.
The lentil trouble began last month when multiple Daily Harvest customers reported severe stomach pains and even liver failure after eating the vegan food brand's newly released French Lentil and Leek Crumbles.
To make matters worse, Daily Harvest rolled out a slow and cryptic response on social media that seemed to tease folks with links to a formal statement instead of giving them the important information and a warning upfront.
Daily Harvest's initial social media response, featuring glamour shots of the food, was met with ire from customers.
The number of people affected by tainted food is reportedly as high as 470. A class action lawsuit has already been filed by customers seeking damages, some of whom spent days in the hospital with extreme pain, stomach bleeding and liver failure.
Editor's note: CNET recently tested and reviewed Daily Harvest, which ships frozen prepared meals including vegan smoothies, soups, bowls and flatbreads to customers. While we didn't experience any problems, we urge anyone with the affected food to discard it immediately. The brand has no reported history of sending tainted or unsafe foods.
You can email Daily Harvest directly at hello@daily-harvest.com or crumbles-recall@daily-harvest.com.
Read more: Daily Harvest Recalls Lentil Crumbles Amid Reports of Severe Illness