Tainted Gatorade Is Recalled After Man Becomes Violently Ill

Walnut Creek-based Longs Drug Stores voluntarily recalled one batch of Lemon-Lime Gatorade from its 198 stores in California, Hawaii, Alaska, Arizona, Nevada and Oregon after a contaminated bottle of the beverage made a Santa Clara firefighter violently ill.

State health officials, who discovered urine in the bottle in tests Friday, are conducting further tests to determine if the bottle also contained pesticides. Those tests are expected to be completed Monday.

The state also is investigating two less severe illnesses that could be related to contamination of Gatorade. William Ihle, spokesman for the state Department of Health Services, said state officials strongly believe that the other two instances of illness are not the result of contaminated Gatorade. In one case, an individual who had also drunk from the bottle had no symptoms, and in the other symptoms appeared several hours after the person drank Gatorade.

In the Santa Clara case, the Gatorade was from Lot 3D029B. A spokesman for Quaker Oats, which makes Gatorade, said it was not known if any bottles from that lot were sold in Southern California.

“It is clear tampering,” said Jeff Lineberry, district supervisor for the state Health Services Department. “My personal opinion is that you got to be pretty sick to do that.”