That mold in Chobani yogurt that most said was harmless even though over 200 people reported getting sick? Not so harmless.
A team of medical researchers led from Duke University reports in mBio, the open access journal of the American Society for Microbiology:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration reported that yogurt products were contaminated with M. circinelloides, a mucoralean fungal pathogen, and >200 consumers complained of symptoms, including vomiting, nausea, and diarrhea. The manufacturer voluntarily withdrew the affected yogurt products from the market. Compared to other food-borne pathogens, including bacteria, viruses, and parasites, less focus has been placed on the risk of fungal pathogens. This study evaluates the potential risk from the food-borne fungal pathogen M. circinelloides that was isolated from the contaminated commercial yogurt. We successfully cultured an M. circinelloides isolate and found that the isolate belongs to the species M. circinelloides f. circinelloides, which is often associated with human infections. In murine and insect host models, the isolate was virulent. While information disseminated in the popular press would suggest this fungal contaminant poses little or no risk to consumers, our results show instead that it is capable of causing significant infections in animals.
Analysis of a food-borne fungal pathogen outbreak: virulence and genome of a Mucor circinelloides isolate from yogurt
mBio vol. 5 no. 4 e01390-14
Soo Chan Lee, R. Blake Billmyre, Alicia Li, Sandra Carson, Sean M. Sykes, Eun Young Huh, Piotr Mieczkowski, Dennis C. Ko, Christina A. Cuomo, Joseph Heitman