Multiple children have been hospitalized after eating the now-recalled Diamond Shruumz brand products, among more than two dozen confirmed cases. hospitalizations reported nationwide are related to so-called “microdosing” chocolates, cones and chewing gum.
At least 58 illnesses have been reported in at least 27 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. State officials have said the number is expected to rise, with many more suspected cases still under investigation.
The agency has not said how many of the cases involved children, although authorities have previously warned that the candy-like products could be attractive to children and teenagers.
“Due to the limited amount of information and the ongoing investigation, we are unable to separate age groups at this time,” CDC spokeswoman Rosa Norman said.
At least two children have been hospitalized in Arizona, a spokesman for the Banner Health system said in an email. Two other children were exposed to the product but were considered only “mild” cases.
Banner Health was among the first to warn of the danger posed by the now-recalled Diamond Shruumz products after patients were hospitalized after eating them.
“We’ve seen the same phenomenon of people eating chocolate then seizurelosing consciousness and had to be intubated,” Steve Dudley, head of the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center, said in a statement.
Until now, a death is also being investigated after consuming Diamond Shruumz products. A spokesman for the North Dakota health department said the death was of an adult who had not been hospitalized before he died.
Cases continue to rise nationwide weeks after the Food and Drug Administration first warned of the poisonings.
California-based Prophet Premium Blends said it recalled all of its Diamond Shruumz products on June 27. An FDA spokesman said the agency is still investigating whether the recall was actually effective in pulling Diamond Shruumz off the shelves.
US Food and Drug Administration
The FDA spokesman declined to comment on whether the agency plans to take regulatory action against the makers of Diamond Shruumz. Prophet Premium Blends did not return a request for comment.
In its recall notice, Prophet Premium Blends blamed the Diamond Shruumz recall on “toxic levels of muscimol” — a chemical found in mushrooms. The company had marketed its products as “microdosing” products with only “natural ingredients.”
“Upon receiving the complaints, we reviewed the products’ Certificates of Analysis (COAs) which indicated higher than normal amounts of Muscimol,” the company said.
The FDA said testing of Diamond Shruumz chocolate sampled from retail stores also found other ingredients in the products such as desmethoxyanginone and kavain, derivatives of the psychoactive kava plant, and psilacetin, which is also known as “synthetic shrooms.”
CBS affiliate KPHO-TV in Phoenix spoke with a mother who said her son was hospitalized after ingesting the product, which he bought at a local smoke shop. She accused Diamond Shruumz of lying when they said they did not use illegal psilocybin mushrooms in the production of their products.
“They determined it at the hospital, they listed it as an overdose of psilocybin or psilocin,” she said.