Online Availability of Diamond Shruumz Before and After FDA Recall Initiation: Qualitative Assessment and Simulated Test Purchasing

TL;DR

This study examines how easily Diamond Shruumz, a mushroom product linked to hospitalizations, remained available online after a recall, showing that many vendors continued to sell it.

Contribution

The study provides new insights into the challenges of enforcing recalls for emerging psychoactive substances in the online marketplace.

Findings

Before the recall, 4117 product listings were identified across social media, e-commerce sites, and search engines.

Post-recall, 67.16% of domains continued to market the product, and 33.33% successfully completed simulated purchases.

The study highlights the difficulty of enforcing recalls for such products in a rapidly evolving online market.

Abstract

Reports of hospitalization associated with Diamond Shruumz–branded mushroom-containing products in October 2024 led to a manufacturer’s recall that restricted the sale, distribution, and accessibility of this new and emerging psychoactive product.

This study seeks to assess the continuing online availability of a mushroom-containing edible product in a diverse e-commerce landscape, specifically aiming to identify and characterize its online availability before and after recall initiation.

A retrospective online market surveillance of Diamond Shruumz products using structured and automated search queries was employed to identify online product marketing and availability. Online surveillance included the monitoring of multiple social media platforms, cannabis e-commerce websites, and search engine queries between June 22 and June 27, 2024, immediately preceding the manufacturer-initiated recall. Post-recall simulated purchases were then conducted on July 12, 2024, on platforms, websites and domains identified as continuing to actively market and sell the products through online product listings.

Prior to product recall, a total of 4117 product listings across 1600 (38.86%) social media posts and user-generated comments, 11 (0.27%) cannabis e-commerce websites, and 2509 (60.94%) hyperlinks from internet search queries were generated for further content analysis. Review of online sources revealed 49 social media posts, 8 e-commerce shops, and 67 domains that were identified as actively marketing and selling products prior to recall. Post-recall, we identified 45 (67.16%) remaining domains that continued to market the product from these different online sources. Simulated purchases revealed that 15 (33.33%) domains successfully transacted test purchases and 30 (66.66%) transactions failed because of account verification or payment failure.

The Diamond Shruumz recall exemplifies the ongoing challenge of unknown consumer harm associated with new and emerging substances marketed and sold on the internet, which is especially concerning as these products appeal to younger audiences with a variety of edible flavored products. While a recall was initiated and products became unavailable, our study found that post-recall online vendors continued to market and sell the products. This indicates that there are ongoing challenges to effectuate recalls and online enforcement in a diverse e-commerce landscape that can rapidly bring new and novel psychoactive substances to the market.

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