Daily Harvest has been hit with lawsuits from people who say they had their gallbladder removed after consuming the product

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Daily Harvest, a direct-to-consumer brand that relied on a network of online influencers to promote its products, earlier this month announced the voluntary recall of its French lentil and leek crumbles after people who consumed them reported, to get sick. Several influencers told CNN Business last week that they spent time in the hospital with mysterious symptoms that puzzled doctors, including severe gastrointestinal pain and extremely elevated liver enzymes.

On Wednesday, Portland content creator Luke Wesley Pearson filed a personal injury lawsuit against Daily Harvest in an Oregon court. The complaint said Pearson was healthy and had no significant health problems prior to eating the sprinkles.

“After consuming the Daily Harvest Lentil Crumbles, the plaintiff became seriously ill and required hospitalization and the surgical removal of his gallbladder,” reads the complaint. The lawsuit also alleges that Daily Harvest failed to do enough to warn people of the dangers of its product and “issued vaguely worded and inadequate warnings to its customers and influencers.”

Carol Ann Ready, a Daily Harvest customer, is also suing the company after saying she was also hospitalized and had her gallbladder removed after consuming the sprinkles. The complaint reports two visits to the emergency room in May after the product was consumed twice. She described her pain as a “9 or 10 out of 10,” according to the complaint.

Ready was eventually diagnosed with liver and gallbladder dysfunction, and doctors said the recommended course of action was to have her gallbladder removed, according to the complaint. She underwent surgery on June 24 to have her gallbladder removed, the court documents said.

In a statement Thursday, Daily Harvest said it was not commenting on any pending litigation but highlighted the steps it had taken to address “an adverse reaction” to its French lentil and leek crumbles.

“We have directly contacted consumers who received the product on multiple occasions, instructing them to dispose of it and not to eat it. An expert panel that includes microbiologists, toxin and pathogen experts, and allergists,” the company said in a statement. “All Pathogen and toxicology results have so far been negative, but we continue to conduct extensive testing to get to the bottom of the matter. Everyone affected deserves an answer and we are committed to correcting this.”

Last week, the company posted an update on its website saying it had received about 470 reports of illness or side effects and that about 28,000 units of the recalled product were sold as of March 28.
Daily Harvest founder and CEO Rachel Drori said in an update Monday that the company was working “24 hours a day, seven days a week” to determine the root cause of the health issues. She said it was also working with an investigation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “I know this is so frustrating. I’m incredibly frustrated,” Drori wrote. “We will continue to share more information as it becomes available. You can expect to hear from us as soon as we know more.”

The FDA did not immediately respond to CNN Business’s request for comment Thursday. Last week, the agency said it could not confirm or deny whether an investigation was underway that wasn’t already listed on its website. However, it added that the FDA and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will release outbreak guidance when specific consumer guidance can be developed to communicate those guidance to the public.

Launched in 2016, Daily Harvest rose to internet prominence after recruiting a number of social media influencers to help with marketing. The company announced last November that it had secured over $1 billion in Series D funding.