Delicious Sushi-Grade Tuna Linked to Salmonella OutbreakS

Say it ain't so — could something as tasty as yellowfin tuna be making people sick? Well, yes, evidently. There have been 116 salmonella-related illnesses linked to a yellowfin tuna product used for sushi and sashimi. Twelve of the afflicted have been hospitalized.

In response, the company responsible for the tainted tuna has ordered a recall of the product in question.

Moon Marine USA Corp. of Cupertino, Calif., also known as MMI, is voluntarily recalling 58,828 pounds of frozen raw yellowfin tuna. It was labeled as Nakaochi Scrape AA or AAA when it was sold to grocery stores and restaurants and is scraped off the fish bones and looks like a ground product.

While this tuna is used in sushi and sashimi, it can also be found in other raw dishes like ceviche. It's probably not significant, but several of the people suffering from salmonella poisoning say they consumed the product in spicy tuna rolls. (Not to make this about me, but I had spicy tuna rolls for dinner last night. I will update this story if I end up seriously ill.)

Symptoms of salmonella poisoning include cramps, diarrhea, and fever. They can begin anywhere from eight hours to seventy-two hours after consuming the tainted food.

[Image via Flickr/adactio]