Sushi lovers horrified after spicy tuna named as salmonella culprit (UPDATE)

It is every foodie’s worst nightmare — you take a bite of something that looks and smells delicious, it might even taste delicious, you finish your meal, and hours later all hell breaks loose. Right now, salmonella, the edible devil incarnate, is tearing through 20 states. The culprit? Sushi — spicy tuna to be exact.

So far, 116 cases of salmonella have been reported in the District of Columbia and states like Texas, Wisconsin, Rhode Island and Connecticut. Those who have fallen victim all had the same unusual strain — salmonella bareilly, which has led investigators to focus on sushi. The source has been pinpointed to Nakaochi Scrape, a product made by the Moon Marine USA Corporation headquartered in Cupertino, California. The company voluntarily recalled 58,828 pounds of the product.

Salmonella often brings with it diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps. In rare cases, it can be fatal. Before you cancel date night at your neighborhood sushi joint, allow us to share with you a ye old tale. Not naming names, but someone here at Metro had a run-in with salmonella a mere four months after moving to the big city in search of all the culinary delights she could lay her little eyes upon. As luck would have it, one day her eyes fell upon some contaminated lettuce. That little snack got her five days at Lenox Hill as a ridiculously attractive parade of doctors and nurses poked her, prodded her and asked about bowel movements. The rest is too horrible to tell — far too repulsive to recount upon this family-friendly website.

The point is, don’t swear off sushi because of this most recent outbreak — but maybe steer clear of spicy tuna until this whole thing blows over. In fact, the most recent case was April 2, so, for all we know, the contaminated food could likely be long gone by now. 116 cases may seem like a lot, but it’s probably not when you consider how many people are eating sushi everyday. Unfortunately, salmonella can lurk in countless food products, from chicken livers to eggs. You can’t avoid sushi (or lettuce) forever, can you?