Carol Reedy

Carol Reedy appears in The sneaky way companies get new chemicals into our food as the consumer whose illness anchors the Planet Money episode. The source describes her as an Oklahoma State University linguistics professor who became severely ill after eating a Daily Harvest lentil and leek crumble containing Tara Flour.

Her story gives Post-Harm Food Regulation its human stakes. Doctors initially struggled to identify the cause, and Reedy eventually lost her gallbladder. The episode uses her case to show why “safe until proven harmful later” can leave consumers managing long-term uncertainty, restricted diets, and medical costs.

Reedy also matters to the legal side of the story because her friend Lisa had not signed the Daily Harvest terms of service. That non-signer status helped litigation move around the Consumer Arbitration Barrier and made Food Safety Litigation Discovery possible.

Connections

• Daily Harvest and Tara Flour - company and ingredient tied to the illness.
• Bill Marler - attorney pursuing the broader case.
• Post-Harm Food Regulation - reactive system Reedy’s case illustrates.
• Consumer Arbitration Barrier - legal constraint the episode highlights.