The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) announced the recall of mushrooms produced by Goldenway Import & Export Ltd of British Columbia.
“The affected product is being recalled from the marketplace due to possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination,” the governmental agency said. “Do not consume, use, sell, serve or distribute recalled products.”
The recall applies to 200-gram packages with UPC 9-90016-900343 and a Dec. 25 expiration date. Illnesses have yet to be associated with eating the mushrooms, and the withdrawal was triggered by CFIA test results.
Enoki mushrooms, also known as enokitake, golden needle mushrooms, or lily mushrooms, are delicate fungi with characteristic long, white stems and small caps.
They are commonly used in Asian cuisine, particularly Japanese, Chinese, and Korean dishes, and can be eaten raw or cooked.
Enoki Mushrooms have been recalled at least twice in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
For example, the FDA issued a high alert this summer about Enoki Mushrooms distributed nationwide in U.S. retail stores due to concerns about Listeria monocytogenes.
The FDA has since designated the recall a Class 1 event.
“In a Class 1 recall, companies have responsibilities to actively mitigate the spread of potentially contaminated food product including removing the recalled product from available inventory, segregating the product to avoid accidental resale or use, and if possible, instituting a fail safe, like blocking the products’ bar code from scanning so the product cannot be scanned and sold,” food industry expert and Fruit Slabs CEO Brandon Dorsky told NTD.
Listeria monocytogenes is a disease-causing bacterium that can be found in many places, including soil, water, sewage, rotting vegetation, and animals, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
"Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea, listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women,” the FDA said.
In April, Harvest NYC of Brooklyn recalled its Enoki Mushrooms that were sold across the United States, also due to concerns about Listeria monocytogenes.