After a Salmonella outbreak linked to Garden of Life Raw Meal shake and meal replacement mixes sickened 11 people, hospitalizing one of them, the company has made changes to the product. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers the outbreak, which includes Illnesses reported from nine states, ongoing. On January 29, Garden of Life recalled some raw meal products after illnesses were reported, then expanded the product recall on February 12.
On its Facebook page, the company attributed the source of the problem to contaminated Organic Moringa Leaf powder obtained from a third party that supplies the powder for recalled products only. Moringa Leaf powder in other Garden of Life products comes from other suppliers.
Garden of Life has removed Moringa powder from its Raw Meal mixes and has changed the label “so that retailers and consumers will not have to wonder whether they are getting the new RAW Meal lots with Moringa removed.”
Symptoms of a Salmonella infection, which usually take between six and 72 hours to develop, include diarrhea, abdominal pain and fever, can last up to a week. For some patients, invasive infections causing bloodstream infections, meningitis or death can occur. Those most at risk are children, seniors, pregnant women and those with compromised immunes systems.
In lab tests, state health officials in Oregon and Utah found Salmonella in open containers of Garden of Life RAW Meal collected from ill people’s homes. Additional laboratory testing is ongoing to determine the DNA fingerprint of the Salmonella.
The number of illnesses reported from each state are as follows: Minnesota (2), New Jersey (2), New Mexico (1), Ohio (1), Oklahoma (1), Oregon (1), Tennessee (1), Utah (1), and Wisconsin (1). Those sickened, who range in age from 8 years to 76, reported onset of illness dates ranging from December 5, 2015 to January 21, 2016.
