Daily Harvest Threw a 'Harfest' Party While Lawsuits Were Still Ongoing from Lentil Dish: Report - PEOPLE

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Daily Harvest is once again facing backlash. 

In April 2022, the vegan food subscription service began shipping out their French Lentil and Leek Crumbles dish, which eventually prompted nearly 400 reported adverse reactions, including 133 hospitalizations. Then in October, during ongoing lawsuits stemming from the product's "gastrointestinal ailments," Daily Harvest held a two-day company retreat called “Harfest”, according to a report from Bloomberg.

(Over 70 people are currently suing Daily Harvest, according to Bloomberg. More, who signed Daily Harvest's terms of service as a customer, are in arbitration.)

Filled with games, food and a party with a live band, the event was initially supposed to be held in June, but was postponed by CEO Rachel Drori when the recalled product was at the center of an investigation, per Bloomberg. 

The company party has been criticized by consumers, who have expressed outrage on social media and included screenshots of Drori wearing a super hero costume. 

In a statement to PEOPLE, Daily Harvest clarified the purpose of the event.

"Like many businesses, Daily Harvest had an annual retreat to discuss business priorities as well as build camaraderie and collegiality among the team," the statement read. "It is disappointing - and falsely accusative - to reference such team-building games or activities in order to wrongly make it appear as if Daily Harvest has a cavalier attitude towards its business or its customers." 

In a statement to Bloomberg, the brand also said that “no executives were intoxicated” at Harfest.

Daily Harvest Lentil Dish That Caused Customer Illnesses. Daily Harvest

In July of 2022, nearly one month after the voluntary recall on the French Lentil and Leek Crumbles dish, Daily Harvest revealed the ingredient that likely caused customer illnesses was tara flour. The company described the flour as a "plant-based source of protein," derived from the seeds of tara trees. These findings were the result of an investigation spearheaded by Daily Harvest with support from the FDA and CDC, according to a statement from their website at the time. 

One affected consumer, Colleen Dunn, who is also separately suing Daily Harvest according to Bloomberg, spoke to the outlet about developing liver disease while 12 weeks pregnant. “I felt scared, betrayed—and quite frankly I felt like an idiot for trusting the company’s messaging as much as I did," she said.

Also per the outlet, almost 40 of the consumers impacted had to get their gallbladders removed. 

More than a year after customers reported getting sick, the CEO spoke out in an interview with Fast Company in June.  

“We started this business with the very distinct mission to help people,” Drori told the outlet in her first interview since the crisis. “When you find out somebody gets sick [from your food], it’s a lot to take in.”

Drori further explained she had no idea that tara flour might be unsafe to consume, saying the company checked to make sure it had research on its health impacts.

“It definitely didn’t appear as a novel ingredient when we decided to use it,” Drori said. “There were multiple established reputable suppliers in the U.S. that had it in their catalog. In hindsight, we learned that while it was offered by many [suppliers], it’s unclear how much it had actually been used.”

Since the uproar over the product’s side effects, Drori confirmed the company has changed the way they source and research their ingredients.

“We’ve augmented our sourcing strategy based on this experience,” she revealed. “We’re not going to use an ingredient if it has not been widely and safely used in the United States.”

Daily Harvest was founded in 2015 and is a food subscription company that ships frozen and organic pre-made food products. Starting this month, the brand expanded to the freezer aisle at select Kroger Family of Companies stores like Ralph's, Kroger and more.

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Daily Harvest Threw a 'Harfest' Party While Lawsuits Were Still Ongoing from Lentil Dish: Report - PEOPLE
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