Farm that harvested contaminated spinach was previously accused of poor weed control
A Victorian farm which 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.
More than 200 people across Australia have so far reported symptoms and suffered "toxic reactions" from spinach harvested at Riviera Farms.
Late on Wednesday the company released a statement admitting the spinach batch in question had been contaminated by thorn apple, also known as jimsonweed. The plant is poisonous to people and livestock and consumption of it can cause dilated pupils, high temperatures, incoherence or hallucinations, vomiting, breathing problems and convulsions.
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.
The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald 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. The expert alleged instead that several paddocks at Riviera Farms demonstrated poor weed control and irrigation, along with deficient chemical hygiene practices and waterlogging.
Syngenta alleged that if loss or damage had been suffered by Riviera Farms, it "was also caused by or contributed to by its own negligence and failure to take reasonable care".
In defence documents lodged with the court and released to The Age, Accensi alleged that any damage sustained to the carrot and corn crops resulted from causes independent of the application of the herbicides, including "the farming and agricultural methods and practices employed" by Riviera Farms and the "presence of weeds and other invasive plants in the fields" in which the crops were planted.
The Age is not suggesting that this legal dispute is linked to the recent batch of contaminated spinach, only that concerns were raised about its handling of crops as far back as 2018.
In the original statement of claim lodged in the Supreme Court of Victoria in 2018 by Riviera Farms, the company alleged that two herbicides manufactured by Accensi and marketed and sold by Syngenta had been "contaminated with chemical impurities".
The farm alleged that after applying the herbicides, its carrot and corn crops had been slow to mature and stunted in size, while the carrots also "experienced bleaching or burning". The allegations were strongly denied by Accensi and Syngenta.
The case proceeded to mediation in June 2019, and was settled. A Syngenta spokeswoman said it could not comment for confidentiality reasons, except to say the case was "concluded to the satisfaction of everyone involved".
Accensi was contacted for comment but did not respond. A Lander and Rogers spokesman said the law firm was unable to discuss or comment on the 2018 legal dispute.
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 suggestion of some misconduct on the part of Riviera (or its management) in relation to the Supreme Court proceeding you have referred to [is] unwarranted and is of course denied in the strongest possible terms," the farm said on Wednesday.
Riviera Farms is directed by Nelson Cox, a respected local elder of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, the director of the Bairnsdale campus of the Brethren school and a trustee of the church hall trust.
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.
The spokesman said as a precautionary measure, neighbouring crops of spinach are in the process of being destroyed.
"As a company that has been supplying quality produce without incident since the 1880s, we are confident we can quickly restore supply and thank our clients for their strong support."
At least 20 Victorians have gone to hospital emergency departments and more than 160 people in NSW alone have reported being unwell after consuming the lettuce leaf, which has been removed from supermarket shelves across the country.
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.
He said while it was not entirely unheard of for some people to have blurred vision for a few days, he did not anticipate any persistent abnormalities or long-term health implications for those who had consumed the spinach.
"Some of the chemicals we are seeing are medicines used in therapy, so they are used for treatment of some medical conditions in hospitals, or to treat diarrhoea and motion sickness," he said. "These are chemicals that are medicines, which we are quite familiar with."
Anyone concerned about exposure to a baby spinach product should contact Victorian Poisons Information Centre on 13 11 26 and those with severe symptoms should call triple zero.
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