Wismettac Asian Foods of Santa Fe Springs, California, is voluntarily recalling Shirakiku Dried Black Fungus because it may be contaminated with Salmonella bacteria. This item is also known as Black Fungus or Kikurage. The recall notice did not state whether or not anyone has been sickened in association with this recalled product.
This Shirakiku Dried Black Fungus was distributed to restaurants in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Washington DC, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and the province of British Columbia in Canada. The recall was issued after the California Department of Public Health discovered Salmonella in the dried fungus and notified the company about the issue.
The recalled product is Shirakiku Dried Black Fungus (Kikurage) that is packaged and sold in 5 pound containers. The UPC number on the product label is 00074410604035. The item number that is stamped on the label is 60403. All lots with item number 60403 on the package are recalled.
The manufacturer has been told about this issue, and is conducting an investigation to determined the cause of the issue. All distribution of the affected product has stopped, and restaurant customers have been notified to remove the product from their facilities and to stop using it.
The symptoms of a Salmonella food poisoning infection include a headache, a fever, stomach pain, nausea, stomach cramps, abdominal pain, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea that may be bloody. People usually start feeling sick 6 hours to 3 days after eating food contaminated with this pathogen.
While most people recover from this illness without medical care, some do become sick enough to be hospitalized. And even after a full recover, some patients may later developed arterial infections, endocarditis, reactive arthritis, and high blood pressure.
