California officials have issued a warning about harvesting and eating mussels from the state’s coastline, because they may contain dangerous toxins at this time of year.
The advisory goes into effect May 1 and applies to all mussel species.
Eating toxic mussels can cause paralytic shellfish poisoning, or domoic acid poisoning. It can lead to serious illness or death. At this time of year, shellfish can accumulate naturally occurring toxins linked to plankton.
Cooking doesn’t destroy the toxins.
Commercially harvested mussels found in restaurants or purchased in fish markets aren’t affected by the advisory and are safe to eat. Strict testing is performed to ensure that mussels and other shellfish, such as clams, oysters, and scallops, aren’t carrying the toxins.
