Daily Harvest: We know the issue with food accused of damaging livers, gall bladders

Weeks after people who ate Daily Harvest French Lentil + Leek Crumbles began blaming the vegan food for hospitalizations and gall bladder removals — and filing lawsuits with those claims — the New York-based food delivery company says it’s started to find the problem.

READ MORE: Consumers file lawsuits blaming Daily Harvest for gall bladder removals

“At this time, we have identified tara flour as the cause of the issue,” stated a Tuesday update on the Daily Harvest website from founder and CEO Rachel Drori.

“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,” Drori wrote. “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.”

Drori insists the problem is confined to the French Lentil + Leek Crumbles.

The July 14 FDA update on the situation says consumer complaints and adverse event reports to the agency number 277, including 96 hospitalizations. When Daily Harvest recalled the crumbles in June, its recall alert said it had received 470 reports of gastrointestinal sickness and possible liver problems.

The FDA said, “If you experience symptoms including yellowing of the skin and eyes (jaundice), dark urine, itching with no rash, gastrointestinal illness, nausea, fatigue, body aches, severe abdominal pain and/or fever after consuming this product, please consult with your healthcare provider.”

Food safety attorney Bill Marler, who has filed lawsuits against Daily Harvest on behalf of a Tulsa woman, an 11-year-old girl and a 4-month-old, says he’s not surprised about tara flour being fingered. Marler said it was an ingredient unique to the French Lentil + Leek Crumbles.

“We still don’t know what’s in the tara that made people sick,” Marler said.

Meanwhile, as first reported by San Francisco’s KGO-Channel 7, Revive Superfoods yanked its mango and pineapple smoothie from its website out of caution because Revive used tara in the smoothie.