Judge shuts down placenta smoothie business over health fears

A woman has been banned from providing prepared placentas for new mothers to eat after a judge deemed the health risks are too great. Swindon Council applied for the second time for a hygiene emergency prohibition order on Thursday which was granted until 41-year-old Kathryn Beale can prove the safety of her business, Optimum Doula. Ms Beale produces smoothies from human placenta, blended with berries and banana, for new mothers, who supply her with their own placenta. She insists the smoothies are safe and argues that eating placentas has many health benefits. Ms Beale said she makes each smoothie by blending an 8cm-long piece of placenta with some sliced banana, a punnet of organic berries and 150ml of water.

The remaining placenta is dehydrated, ground into powder and turned into pills. Ms Beale has been running her placenta business for two years and typically has two customers a month. Environmental health officers are concerned about the presence of staphylococcus aureus in human placenta, a pathogen considered to be the most critical because it can’t be destroyed by heat. When swallowed it can cause vomiting and diarrhea. While not all placentas carry the bug, those that do have a particularly high level. The case against Kathryn has so far cost Swindon Council in the region of £2,000. Phil Wirth, prosecuting at Swindon Magistrates Court, said: “Evidence comes from Professor Pennington. He is considered one of the leading experts.
“The order will remain in place until Ms Beale can satisfy us she can provide this food in a safe manner, because she is a food business operator. She does have other products which are not placenta-based. The difficulty is the issue that staphylococcus aureus is resistant to heat, which is the way the placenta is produced.” District Judge Simon Cooper, presiding, said: “I have never quite appreciated the range and ingenuity of the human mind which will place cases such as this before me. Having held a food hygiene certificate myself in the past, I am well aware of the risk of staphylococcus, and it is exceptionally high. It isn’t going to be dealt with by heat, and there could be an epidemic if the stuff is passed around or sold on the internet. It is the contamination issue which seems to me to be particularly serious. She doesn’t want a full examination of the evidence, so on that basis, the order is made.”

Ms Beale said she was unable to contest the application due to the costs involved. After the hearing, she said: “Growth of staphylococcus aureus on the placental surface is unlikely. The organisms transferred to the surface of the placenta are protective, not hazardous, and will prevent the growth of staphylococcus aureus because of competition, the low pH due to lactic acid and to other antibacterial compounds produced. It is not passed around or sold on the internet. I meet with each mum in person when she books my services and she receives only her own placenta. Her placenta will not be given to anyone else and she will not be given anyone else’s placenta. I did want a full examination of the evidence, but due to the risk of losing being financially crippling, - having to pay not only any court costs incurred, but also all of Swindon Council’s costs, in relation to the case - I felt I had no choice but to accept the order.”