Garden of Life to reformulate product after Salmonella outbreak

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said 11 people infected with Salmonella Virchow have been reported from nine states and one person was hospitalized.

RAW Meal Organic Shake & Meal products by Garden of Life were identified as the likely source.

The firm expanded its recall last week to include additional lots of RAW Meal Organic Shake and Meal Replacement Chocolate, Original, Vanilla, and Vanilla Chai products.

The source was Organic Moringa Leaf powder used only in Raw Meal. Because other products with this ingredient use different suppliers, only Raw Meal is exposed. 

Garden of Life said it will remove Organic Moringa powder from Raw Meal and required the manufacturer to remove it from its facility. The firm said it expects new Raw Meal products to be available within the next few weeks.

It added, with its Utah manufacturer, it has done new rounds of product testing covering more than 1,000 finished lots, bulk blends and raw materials.

‘Using this as an opportunity’​

Brian Ray, Garden of Life's president, said: "We are using this as an opportunity to review our entire sourcing, manufacturing and distribution system with an eye to making a safe system even better. ​

“You can expect to hear more from us on this topic going forward. On behalf of all of us, I apologize to everyone affected by this situation."​

The label will be refreshed so that retailers and consumers will not have to wonder whether they are getting the new Raw Meal lots with Moringa removed.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) said it was informed by the US FDA that certain batches of Raw Meal Organic Shake & Meal Replacement products linked to the outbreak may have been supplied to businesses in the country.

The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) said the US agency had passed the same warning onto them.

The agency said it had notified the UK businesses that are affected to recall the affected batches and advise display of point-of-sale notices online and/or in stores.

FSAI and FSA told us there had been no reports of illness associated with the product.

The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) in Hong Kong said trade should stop using or selling the products concerned immediately if they still have them in their possession.

"Preliminary investigation by the CFS, according to the latest recall list, found that oGreen.hk and buystation in Causeway Bay had sold one of the products set out in that recall list, namely RAW Organic Meal Chocolate Half Size (Lot number: 47243000). According to the information provided by the vendors concerned, they have stopped selling and removed from shelves the incriminated product according to CFS' advice."​

Flush Fitness in Australia recalled Raw Meal Organic Shake and Meal Replacement (unflavoured) 908g and Raw Meal Chocolate Organic Shake and Meal Replacement 986g sold at various speciality nutrition stores in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Northern Territory and Western Australia, said the NSW Food Authority.

Traceback investigation​

Utah Public Health Laboratory confirmed Salmonella was isolated from an open container of Garden of Life RAW Meal organic shake product from a case patient at the start of the month.

Oregon health officials reported Salmonella was isolated from a different open container of Garden of Life RAW Meal product collected a different case patient.

FDA said testing on both samples will determine the specific pattern(s) of Salmonella isolated.

Of 10 ill people interviewed, 100% reported consuming powdered supplements or meal replacement powders in the week before illness onset, and all reported having Garden of Life RAW Meal product.