Spinach poisoning causes hallucinations, illnesses after chemical contamination

At least nine people in Sydney have developed severe hallucinations and illnesses after eating a contaminated batch of baby spinach.

NSW Health advises people not to eat ‘Riviera Farms’ brand baby spinach with an expiry date of December 16.

A batch of contaminated baby spinach is believed to be responsible for serious illnesses and hallucinations.Credit:Rachel Husband

Those who saw a doctor in the past 24 hours purchased the spinach from Costco, but NSW Health does not yet know the extent of the distribution.

The department works with the NSW Food Authority, as well as other jurisdictions. He believes the problem could have an impact on other states.

Reported symptoms can be severe and include confusion, hallucinations, dilated pupils, rapid heartbeat, facial flushing, blurred vision, dry mouth and skin, and fever.

NSW Poisons Information Center medical director Dr Darren Roberts said there were still very sick patients more than 24 hours after symptoms began.

“Patients who have been sick enough have been to the point of having marked hallucinations where they see things that aren’t there,” he said. “They can’t give a good account of what happened.

“No one died, so we’re very happy about that and hopefully it stays that way, but these people are quite sick.”