Updates on our voluntary recall of French Lentil + Leek Crumbles

We want to make sure you have the latest update on our voluntary recall of French Lentil + Leek Crumbles. We are taking this very seriously and doing everything we can to get to the bottom of this. Your health and well-being are our top priority.

Updated as of May 31, 2023 at 12:15PM ET

An update about the medical study of tara flour.

Daily Harvest has been informed that the American Chemical Society's Journal of Chemical Research in Toxicology today published a report that details its findings related to the consumption of tara flour. According to this report, two important conclusions have been reached:

First, Baikiain, a naturally occurring compound in tara, which was not previously reported or thought to cause adverse effects, appears to be the cause of the issues reported with the French Lentil + Leek Crumbles.

Second, the adverse effects appear to be experienced by only some people, likely the result of a genetic predisposition which was not previously medically known.

This was an independent, third-party study conducted by The National Center for Natural Products Research, led by Dr. Ikhlas Khan (a Distinguished Professor of Pharmacognosy at the University of Mississippi). The report is the result of months of extensive research focused on identifying the specific cause of the adverse reactions some people reported from consuming products with tara protein flour, including the French Lentil + Leek Crumbles.

These findings are consistent with what Daily Harvest previously reported.

Nothing matters more than the health and safety of our customers and we deeply value the trust you put in us and our food every day.

Previous Updates

Published July 19, 2022

An update about our French Lentil + Leek Crumbles investigation from founder + CEO, Rachel Drori.

Hi, it’s Rachel. I started Daily Harvest in 2015 with the mission to make it easier to eat more sustainable fruits and vegetables every day that make you and our planet healthier.

Since then, we’ve served over 120 million pounds of sustainably-grown whole fruits and vegetables across 140+ delicious and nutrient-rich dishes to millions of customers. It is a privilege to create a better system of food by offering convenient, sustainable and nourishing options to you and your family. I’ve never taken this lightly. And it’s why I’m reaching out today with the current results of the investigation into our recent recall.

On June 17th we initiated a voluntary recall of French Lentil + Leek Crumbles. At the same time, we launched an investigation into what could have caused this problem. We have been working closely with the FDA, the CDC as well as top doctors, microbiologists, toxicologists and three independent labs to find the answer. We considered all possibilities, including processing issues or infection, and have ruled all of them out: Hepatitis A, Norovirus, a range of mycotoxins, including aflatoxins, food-borne pathogens including Listeria, E.Coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus Aureus (Staph), B.Cereus, and Clostridium Species and major allergens including egg, soy, milk, and gluten. Testing also confirmed there are no pesticides or the presence of heavy metal levels that would have caused the reported adverse effects.

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.

As we’ve continued our testing sequencing over the past four weeks and reviewed consumer reports and medical records (including analysis by medical toxicologists and food safety experts), the data has repeatedly indicated that the issue is isolated to French Lentil + Leek Crumbles. The testing process and investigation also validated the safety of our supply chain and manufacturing processes. We are confident that we continue to uphold the highest standards for quality and safety. You can safely enjoy the rest of our 140+ items with confidence.

I appreciate the trust you put in Daily Harvest every time you feed your family. What you put on your table is what we put on ours, and your health and safety are our top priority. I want to personally apologize to anyone who has been impacted as well as reaffirm my commitment to making sure this experience provides lessons we can implement. We’re also working with those who experienced adverse reactions to help them.

Anyone with additional questions or concerns should contact crumbles-recall@daily-harvest.com. It is a privilege to serve you and your family, and we are committed to continuing to nourish you with safe and nutritious food.

Take care,

Rachel

Published July 12, 2022

An update about our French Lentil + Leek Crumbles investigation from founder + CEO, Rachel Drori.

Hi, it’s Rachel. It’s been a few days since our last update about the French Lentil + Leek Crumbles investigation, and I wanted to give you a sense of where we are at the moment.

As we’ve shared, comprehensive testing to date has ruled out several potential root causes including: Hepatitis A, Norovirus, a range of mycotoxins, including aflatoxins, food-borne pathogens including Listeria, E.Coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus Aureus (Staph), B.Cereus, and Clostridium Species and major allergens including egg, soy, milk, and gluten. Tests have also confirmed that there are no pesticides.

We’re not done testing yet. Thorough scientific processes require extensive laboratory analysis and we’re committed to finding answers.

We remain confident that this issue is isolated to French Lentil + Leek Crumbles and does not impact any of our other 140+ items.

Your health and safety is our highest priority. As a reminder, if you have any remaining French Lentil + Leek Crumbles in your freezer, please throw it out and don’t eat it.

I will be in touch as soon as we have more updates to share.

Take care,

Rachel

Published July 1, 2022 at 2:00PM ET

A message from our Founder and CEO Rachel Drori

Rachel here – I want to give you another update on the French Lentil + Leek Crumbles recall. As you know, we’ve been conducting exhaustive testing over the course of the last two weeks. Despite this, we still have not identified a possible cause. I am sorry that it’s taking as long as it is to pinpoint exactly what may have made people sick. We are deeply committed to finding answers for those impacted. We’re working with top doctors, microbiologists, toxicologists as well as 3 independent labs.

While additional testing is underway, results to date rule out the following:

Hepatitis A
Norovirus
A range of mycotoxins, including aflatoxins
Food-borne pathogens including Listeria, E.Coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus Aureus (Staph), B.Cereus, and Clostridium Species
Major allergens including egg, soy, milk, and gluten

I assure you, we will not stop until we get to the bottom of this. We’re continuing to work in close cooperation with the FDA, CDC and other health agencies. The FDA released an update on their investigation yesterday, which can be found here on their website.

We will share more testing results when available, and we’ll continue to update you via email, on social media, and on our advisory page.

In the meantime, please do not hesitate to reach out to crumbles-recall@daily-harvest.com with any questions and if you have French Lentil + Leek Crumbles, do not eat it and discard it.

Thank you,

Rachel Drori

Founder + CEO

Daily Harvest

Published June 27, 2022 at 4:05PM ET

A message from our Founder and CEO Rachel Drori

Hi. It’s Rachel.

I’m reaching out today to update you on everything that we are doing to get to the root cause of the issues that have been reported with our French Lentil + Leek Crumbles. We are working 24 hours a day, seven days a week on this. You deserve answers.

We have spent the past ten days working with the FDA, state agencies and multiple independent labs, as well as experts in microbiology, food safety and toxicology to conduct testing. These tests cover common food-borne pathogens, toxins, and allergens. Results thus far have all come back negative. At this point, despite consulting with numerous experts, cooperating with FDA’s investigation, working with our supply chain, and conducting extensive testing, we have not yet identified a cause. I also want to reassure you that this issue is limited to our French Lentil + Leek Crumbles and does not impact any of our other 100+ menu items.

I recognize this is so frustrating. I am incredibly frustrated. In the absence of a definitive answer at this time, I would like to keep you updated on our process:

When we initiated our voluntary recall, we immediately began a thorough, top-to-bottom investigation of our manufacturing facilities, food and supply chain:

The FDA and the state Department of Agriculture have each inspected the facility where the French Lentil + Leek Crumbles were manufactured.
Testing is being conducted in partnership with ISO 17025 certified 3rd party laboratories on French Lentil + Leek Crumbles as well as the ingredients used in them.
So far, testing has come back negative for food-borne pathogens including Listeria, E.Coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus Aureus (Staph), B.Cereus, and Clostridium Species. Testing on major allergens including egg, soy, milk, and gluten have also so far come back negative.
We initiated testing for a wide range of toxins known as mycotoxins, including aflatoxins. The first round of testing on the most common have come back negative but we continue to cast a wider net to ensure we are not missing anything.

As the investigation has not yet identified a root cause, we are expanding our testing regimen to explore other potential, albeit less common, sources of contamination as well as protein and amino acid profiling.

While some of these tests can be completed within 24-72 hours, many take up to 7 days or more to produce results. We are working as fast as possible to get you the answers that you need and deserve.

We are confident this issue is limited to our French Lentil + Leek Crumbles and does not impact any of our other 100+ menu items. We are still eating and feeding our families all of our other products and they are safe for you to do the same. Daily Harvest has always held ourselves and our suppliers to the highest food safety and quality standards throughout our supply chain. We have a robust best-in-class testing protocol designed to ensure your safety:

The ingredients that go into our food are rigorously tested prior to preparation, and our manufacturing partners adhere to strict quality, food safety and sanitation guidelines.
We have a thorough tracing process in place to ensure we can follow our ingredients throughout the supply chain.
We perform quality control testing on every batch of food we produce to ensure it meets our rigorous standards.

If you purchased French Lentil + Leek Crumbles, you’ve likely heard from us already a few times in the past week. If you have ordered Crumbles for an upcoming box, it’s been removed. We’re working to collect as much information as possible to find an answer.

We’ll continue to share more information as it becomes available. You can expect to hear from us as soon as we know more.

Thank you,

Rachel

Published June 23, 2022 at 6:10PM ET

Daily Harvest has voluntarily recalled all French Lentil + Leek Crumbles due to consumer reports of gastrointestinal illness and potential liver function issues.

From April 28 to June 17, 2022, approximately 28,000 units of the recalled product were distributed to consumers in the continental United States through online sales and direct delivery, as well as through retail sales at the Daily Harvest store in Chicago, IL and a “pop-up” store in Los Angeles, CA. Samples were also provided to a small number of consumers. Daily Harvest directly notified by email those consumers who were shipped the affected product, and other consumers for whom the company had contact information, and consumers were issued a credit for the recalled product.

Consumers who may still have the recalled product in their freezers should immediately dispose of it.

French Lentil + Leek Crumbles is a frozen product packaged in a 12oz white pouch with the words “Daily Harvest” at the top, a large “CRUMBLES” immediately below the top and the words “French Lentil + Leek” in bold, as shown below. All lot codes of the French Lentil + Leek Crumbles are affected. No other Daily Harvest products are affected or part of this recall.

To date, the company has received approximately 470 reports of illness or adverse reactions. Consumer safety is our highest priority, and we have taken immediate steps to stop production and distribution of the product and conduct a root cause investigation, which is ongoing.

This recall is being made in cooperation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Consumers who have questions or would like to report adverse reactions should contact Daily Harvest by email at crumbles-recall@daily-harvest.com or by visiting https://www.daily-harvest.com/content/french-lentil-leek-crumbles-advisory# or by calling 1-888-302-0305 9am – 9pm Eastern Time, 7 days a week.

Published June 22, 2022 at 2:05PM ET

Here are the steps we are taking:

As soon as we received reports suggesting a possible link between the French Lentil + Leek Crumbles and an adverse reaction, we immediately took action and launched a voluntary recall.
We have reached out multiple times directly to consumers who received the product, instructing them to dispose of it and not eat it. If you have French Lentil + Leek Crumbles, please dispose of them and do not eat them. The last thing we’d want is for anyone else to be impacted.
In parallel, we launched an investigation to identify the root cause of the health issues being reported. We’re 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.
All pathogen and toxicology results have come back negative so far, but we’re continuing to do extensive testing and will keep you updated.
We are in touch directly with customers who reported adverse reactions and are collecting data to further the investigation, as well as offering refunds. If you have been impacted and are not already in touch with our team, please go here to begin a report or email us at crumbles-recall@daily-harvest.com.

We are doing everything we can, as quickly as we can to identify the root cause. Nothing matters more than the health and safety of our customers and we deeply value the trust you put in us and our food every day. We will update you as soon as we know more. Please reach out if you have any questions.

Published June 19, 2022 at 1:45PM ET

Nothing matters more than the health and safety of our customers and we deeply value the trust you put in us and our food every day.

We’ve received customer reports of French Lentil + Leek Crumbles causing gastrointestinal issues. We took immediate steps to address what we heard from customers, reaching out to every person who received French Lentil + Leek Crumbles, instructing them to dispose of the product and not eat it. We simultaneously launched an investigation with internal and external experts throughout our supply chain and in accordance with regulatory procedures. We will share more information as soon as it’s available.

Our mission has always been to take care of food so food can take care of you. That means quality, safety, and transparency are and always will be our top priorities. If you have any French Lentil + Leek Crumbles, please dispose of them and do not eat them. If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to email us at hello@daily-harvest.com so we can follow up with you directly.

Email sent to French Lentil + Leek Crumbles customers on June 17, 2022 at 7:20PM ET

At Daily Harvest we are committed to our customers, and we take quality and safety seriously. Our technology enables us to take extraordinary and timely precautions that go well beyond standard practice. A small number of customers have reported gastrointestinal discomfort after consuming our French Lentil + Leek Crumbles. As included in our cooking instructions, lentils must be thoroughly cooked to an internal temperature of 165° F. Like some other legumes, raw lentils contain a type of protein that can cause gastrointestinal symptoms unless thoroughly cooked.

While cooking lentils thoroughly is always recommended, out of an abundance of caution, please dispose of any French Lentil + Leek Crumbles you have received and do not eat them. You are a valued customer and we deeply appreciate your trust in us. It is one of our core values to go above and beyond for our customers, which goes hand in hand with our culture of continuous improvement. For the trouble, we have placed a $10 credit in your account for every bag of French Lentil + Leek Crumbles in your last box.

Thank you for being a loyal customer.

Sincerely,

Taylor

Daily Harvest