Meal delivery services like Blue Apron, HelloFresh, and Home Chef have boomed in popularity following COVID-19.
The ability to cut out grocery store trips and cook premade items has made many customers’ lives that much easier.
But, Daily Harvest– another popular plant-based meal delivery company based out of New York– has recently come under fire.
Their French Lentil and Leek Crumbles have been recalled after numerous consumers became severely ill following consumption.
In fact, Daily Harvest received four hundred and seventy reports of either adverse reactions or illness due to the crumble. Then, on June 24, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that Daily Harvest voluntarily recalled twenty-eight thousand packages of the French Lentil and Leek Crumbles.
Abby Silverman, Digital Creative Director of Cosmopolitan, was among the victims. She shared her sickening experience with the Daily Harvest product in a now-viral TikTok.
“About a month ago, I received a PR package from Daily Harvest. I ate the French Lentil and Leek Crumbles, and the following day, I started having extreme stomach and gastro pain,” Abby said.
The pain was so unbearable that Abby went to the emergency room “in the middle of the night.” But, her doctors could not pinpoint the cause of the symptoms.
TikTok; pictured above is Abby in her video
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“I had elevated liver levels and bacteria in my urine. They thought I had a UTI and gave me antibiotics for five days,” Abby explained.
She ended up returning home and finishing out the antibiotics. Immediately following the five days, though, Abby’s pain came back.
“It was even worse, and I had a 101.8 fever. So, I went to the E.R. a second time, and they tested me for everything– hepatitis, mono, gallstones… I also had a CAT scan, an ultrasound, and so much bloodwork done,” Abby continued.
Since that night a month ago, Abby’s doctors have not figured out the cause. Her liver levels have remained persistently high, and Abby is set to visit a liver specialist this week.
Additionally, the TikToker has read countless stories online of other Daily Harvest consumers reporting the same elevated levels with unknown causation.
“I have had to readjust my entire life the past month to deal with this,” Abby said.
She posted her story to TikTok as a “PSA” to throw out the product as soon as possible and contact Daily Harvest for retribution.
“This is not okay. I am not the kind of person to put a brand on blast, but this is serious; people are having very serious health issues,” Abby finished.
Daily Harvest has since published a statement on its website claiming to have “launched an investigation to identify the root cause of the health issues being reported.”
“We are working closely with the FDA and with multiple independent labs to investigate this. We are working with a group of experts to help us get to the bottom of this– that includes microbiologists, toxin and pathogen experts, as well as allergists,” the statement reads.
So far, the company has shared that “all pathogen and toxicology results have come back negative.”
Nonetheless, Daily Harvest said they plan to keep consumers updated with any developments.
To watch Abby Silverman’s original TikTok, visit the link here. Or, to read Daily Harvest’s statement, visit the link here.
@abby.silverman this is so f**ked up… #fyp
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