More than 114 people in Australia across four states have reported adverse side effects after eating the affected spinach, according to a Washington Post tally of state figures on Sunday. Health officials have warned consumers not to eat the recalled spinach products, which can cause symptoms, including delirium, confusion, hallucinations, dilated pupils, rapid heartbeat, flushing of the face, blurred vision, and dry mouth and skin. Victorian authorities said Clinical symptoms also included slurred speech, nausea and vomiting.
“I feel like my body was moving when it wasn’t,” said Pratima Kafle, 30, who said she hallucinated, felt confused and felt full-body numbness after consuming a cooked seven-ounce serving of spinach on Tuesday.
Kafle said it The symptoms started 10 to 15 minutes after eating the spinach, which she bought at a Costco in Australia’s capital, Canberra. “I feel dizzy, I need someone to hold me up and support me to walk,” she recalled, adding that she was unable to drink a glass of water without spilling it and that at at some point she fell to the floor thinking she was in bed.
“At that moment, I feel like I’ve taken some kind of medicine that makes your body numb and you can’t feel anything,” she added. She reported other temporary symptoms including dry mouth, blurred vision and difficulty breathing. Strange feelings. It sounds funny, but it wasn’t,” she said.
Health officials in the state of Victoria said symptoms usually occurred “within hours” to eat the contaminated spinach, but did not indicate how long it lasts.
Darren Roberts, medical director of the New South Wales Poisons Information Centre, said the Sydney Morning Herald that some patients were still sick more than 24 hours after the onset of their symptoms, adding: “Patients who have been sick enough have been to the point of marked hallucinations where they see things that are not there.”
It was not immediately clear which farm the spinach product consumed by Kafle and other affected people came from, but Food Standards Australia New Zealand, which is coordinating the recall, said in a statement posted on its website that “it is likely that there is a source of contamination”. The strain of the contaminating plant, which was sent to laboratories for testing, has not been publicly identified by health authorities.
health officials identified 13 spinach products — sold under four brands — that consumers were advised not to eat and return to their place of purchase for a full refund. Potentially dangerous products include Woolworth’s Chicken Cobb Salad and Coles Kitchen Smoked Mexican Salad marked with specific expiration dates, food health officials have warned.
According to a press release from Riviera Farmsa spinach grower included in the recall, the contaminated vegetables were grown on a farm in the state of Victoria where they appeared “to have been contaminated with a weed which may have health consequences if eaten”.
Riviera Farms said it notified customers in its supply chain of the recall. “Riviera Farms can confirm that on Thursday and Friday, we contacted all 20 customers for our baby spinach by phone, in writing, or both,” a spokesperson said in a statement. Saturday statement posted on the producer’s website.
Food Recall – Riviera Fresh Pty Ltd is recalling Riviera Farms Baby Spinach 350g and 1kg (all use by dates from 16th December 2022 through 28th December 2022 inclusive) due to potential contamination with plant material dangerous. See our website: https://t.co/WtT7u4n2k8 pic.twitter.com/v0l2o81bX6
— FoodStandardsAusNZ (@FSANZnews) December 16, 2022
The majority of reported cases are in the state of New South Wales, where health officials are said in a statement on Saturday that 88 people had reported symptoms after eating the baby spinach, including at least 33 who had consulted a doctor. In Queensland, 26 people had reported it symptoms at the state poison control center by Sunday.
In Victoria, health officials said the clinical symptoms presented by consumers of spinach products suggested an anticholinergic syndrome.
According to clinical guidelines published by the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, the syndrome can be triggered by the accidental ingestion of anticholinergic agents, including the deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna), jimsweed, mandrake root, lupine seeds and angel’s trumpet.
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