ORANGE JUICE CHEMICALS IN COSTCO MUSHROOMS

Back in January this year, orange juice safety hit the news in the U.S. and some other countries as well. The issue was a chemical called carbendazim - a fungicide used to control plant diseases that had been used on orange trees in Brazil, where the frozen orange juice came from (see earlier posts).

Carbendazim is approved for use in some countries but not the U.S.. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not allow even low levels of carbendazim in U.S. food. Now this same unhealthy chemical - plus a couple of others (fluoranthene and pyrene) has been found in shittake mushrooms.

L.A. Link of Cerritos, California is recalling 6 0z plastic jars of Shiitake-Ya brand Gourmet Shiitake Slices with a “SELL BY date” of 04/16/2013. They were sold at COSTCO - that huge grocery store, in California, Oregon and Washington.

If you bought them, throw them out or take them back and get a refund. But if you ate them, don't panick - one meal containing low doses of these chemicals will not kill you.

To your good health,
TSF