Health Canada recalls mushrooms over life-threatening bacteria

If you’ve purchased a certain type of mushroom during your grocery run in the past couple of weeks, you might want to check its packaging, because Health Canada just issued a province-wide recall.

Golden Mushroom brand Enoki mushrooms are being recalled by the department due to Listeria monocytogenes. The product has been sold in Ontario and may have been distributed in other provinces and territories.

Food contaminated with this bacteria may not look or smell spoiled but can still cause symptoms such as vomiting, nausea, persistent fever, muscle aches, severe headache, and neck stiffness.

For the young, elderly, pregnant, or immune-compromised, a listeriosis infection can be life-threatening. People infected with Listeria monocytogenes may see symptoms develop in a few hours or as long as two to three days after consuming contaminated food.

The recalled product. Photo: Health Canada.

More severe cases of listeriosis can take anywhere from three days to 70 days to develop, according to Health Canada.

The recall was triggered by Canadian Food Inspection Agency test results, and so far, there have been no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of the mushrooms.

The recall does not include date information on when and where exactly the product was sold.