A Victorian farm that produced a batch of contaminated spinach that left hundreds of Australians sick was accused in a legal dispute in 2018 of poor weed control and other substandard farming practices.
More than 200 people across Australia – including a child who was hospitalised in Queensland – have suffered toxic reactions including headaches, nausea and hallucinations, after consuming the spinach harvested at Riviera Farms near Bairnsdale in East Gippsland. The bags of spinach were recalled from supermarkets when the alarm was raised on Saturday.
In 2018, Riviera Farms became embroiled in a legal dispute after it sued agrochemical companies Syngenta and Accensi, alleging its carrot and corn crops had been wiped out by contaminated herbicides.can reveal that in 2019 an agricultural consultant hired by Lander and Rogers, the law firm representing Syngenta in the case, disputed the evidence provided by Riviera Farms.
A spokesman for Riviera Farms denied the allegations in the 2018 court case and said “no determination of either Accensi/Syngenta and Riviera’s liability to each other were made”. The farm’s statement said its investigations into the weed contamination “have not identified any other potential chemical, herbicide or other type of contaminant”, and added that no other produce from the farm had been contaminated.
Dr Darren Roberts, clinical toxicologist and the director of NSW Poisons Information Centre, said early laboratory tests had been reassuring, suggesting that persisting effects of eating the contaminated spinach will not occur for people beyond 24 hours.