Two people have died and dozens of diners have been left in pain after eating undercooked mushrooms at a restaurant in the US.
Customers at Dave’s Sushi in Montana reported symptoms such as diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain after their meal. The culprit is believed to be the exotic ‘Morels mushroom’, which, while safe to eat when cooked properly, can carry harmful toxins if not.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducted an investigation into the incident. Their findings revealed that: “Vomiting and diarrhoea were reportedly profuse, and hospitalised patients had clinical evidence of dehydration.”
Over a three-week period during which the restaurant served their special sushi roll with salmon and mushrooms, 51 people fell ill. Three were admitted to hospital and two sadly passed away.
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However, they couldn’t figure out why the mushrooms made people sick, as six other restaurants using the same supplier had no problems.
Later, the CDC found that Dave’s Sushi might have not cooked some of their morels enough.
The report explained: “On April 8, morels were served partially cooked: a hot boiled sauce was poured over the raw morels, after which they were marinated for 75 minutes. On April 17, the morels were uncooked and cold-marinated before serving.”
The report’s final advice was to cook morels well to avoid getting sick. It stated: “Morels should be cooked thoroughly before consumption because cooking is likely to reduce toxin levels present in the mushrooms.”
