STAPHYLOCOCCAL FOOD POISONING CAUSED BY IMPORTED CANNED MUSHROOMS

From February through April 1989, four outbreaks of staphylococcal foo d poisoning in the United States were associated with eating mushrooms canned in the People's Republic of China (PRC), In the four outbreaks , 99 persons who ate at a suspect facility developed gastrointestinal symptoms within 24 h, including 18 who were hospitalized, Illness was associated with eating mushrooms at a university cafeteria (relative r isk [RR] = 53.0), a hospital cafeteria (RR = 13.8), a pizzeria (odds r atio [OR] = infinity), and a restaurant (OR = infinity) (all P < .0001 ), Staphylococcal enterotoxin A was found by ELISA in mushrooms at the sites of two outbreaks and in unopened cans from the three plants tho ught to have produced mushrooms implicated in outbreaks, These investi gations led to multistate recalls and a US Food and Drug Administratio n order to restrict entry into the United States of all mushrooms prod uced in the PRC; until this action, the United States imported similar to 50 million pounds yearly.