A contaminated brand of baby spinach has left more than a dozen people sick in two states.
Eight people have become sick from eating the spinach in Victoria, with the state’s health department confirming to The Age it is still investigating the source of the contamination.
In Sydney, at least nine people developed hallucinations and sickness from eating the weed-tainted green salad leaves.
The dates covered in the recall for 350-gram bags and one-kilogram boxes of Riviera Farms-branded baby spinach sold at Costco outlets in NSW, ACT and Victoria were expanded on Friday.
“It appears these products, which were grown on a farm in Victoria and shipped to stores in NSW, have been contaminated with a weed which can have health consequences if consumed,” Riviera Farms said in a statement.
The company issued a recall of products with best-before dates up to December 28 as a precautionary measure. It had previously warned consumers about products with a best-before date of December 16.
The company said it advised authorities immediately after a retailer alerted it to the issue.
NSW Health said it was working with the NSW Food Authority and other jurisdictions to raise the alarm about the recall.
Reported symptoms can be severe and include confusion, hallucinations, dilated pupils, rapid heartbeat, flushed face, blurred vision, dry mouth and skin and fever.
NSW Poisons Information Centre medical director Dr Darren Roberts said there were patients still very sick more than 24 hours after symptoms began.
A contaminated batch of baby spinach is believed to be responsible for severe illness and hallucinations.Credit:Rachel Husband
“The patients that have been quite unwell have been to the point of marked hallucinations where they are seeing things that aren’t there,” he said. “They can’t give a good recount of what happened.
“No one has died, so we’re very happy with that, and we hope it remains that way, but these people are quite sick.”
Investigations into the contaminant are ongoing, but NSW Health said it was confident the symptoms were caused by the accidental presence of a chemical.
“There are many possible causes for this – overseas we can see another plant accidentally entering supply,” Roberts said.
“Lots of tests are being conducted based on material that’s left and the blood and urine of patients [but] we feel pretty confident with the type of chemical that’s caused it.”
Riviera Farms said it had been in contact with food regulators on Thursday after notifying stores to pull the product from shelves.
“Early reports are that our one-kilogram plastic tubs of spinach with a best-before date of December 16 may be contaminated with a weed which can have health consequences if consumed,” a spokesman said.
“As soon as we were advised of the possible weed contamination from one of our customers, we immediately advised them to remove our impacted spinach from their shelves, and contacted state health and federal food authorities.
“There is no suggestion, and to our knowledge no possibility, that any other products have been impacted by this weed.”
Some of those affected called the Poisons Information Centre and were advised to seek medical attention.
“When people have these kinds of symptoms they should go to hospital, these effects won’t go away on their own,” Roberts said.
ACT Health has been contacted for comment.
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